THE    PSYCHOLOGIST 


BY 


PUTNAM   P.   BISHOP 


NEW   YORK   ft   LONDON 

G.    P.    PUTNAM'S    SONS 

l|jt  limchtrbochti  |)rtss 
1886 


COPYRIGHT   BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

iS86 


Press  of 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
New  York 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I.     GETTING  ACQUAINTED 


II.  LAKESIDE  PASTIMES  .......  20 

III.  A  SUNDAY  WITH  MR.  JORMAN  .....  43 

IV.  WANTING  TO  MAKE  MONEY       .....  61 
V.  A  RAINY  DAY     ........  82 

VI.  EVENTS  OF  THE  AUTUMN  ......  i01 

VII.  JOURNEYING  SOUTHWARD  ......  127 

VIII.  SOJOURNING  IN  FLORIDA    ......  *43 

IX.  MAKING  MONEY          .......  l67 

X.  THE  BLUE  PACKAGE  .......  2°6 

XL  ANOTHER  WINTER      .......  232 

XII.  VISITING  IN  NEW  YORK     ......  265 

XIII.  CORRESPONDENCE        .......  298 

XIV.  Miss  LOYALTY'S  AFFAIRS  ......  322 


2090707 


THE  PSYCHOLOGIST. 


CHAPTER  I. 

GETTING    ACQUAINTED. 

in  here  a  minute  before  you  go  ;  will  you, 
Bidrop  ?  " 

The  speaker  was  Mr.  Johnson,  junior  member  of  the 
hardware  firm  of  Millecramp  &  Co.,  doing  business  on 
Reade  Street,  New  York.  It  was  a  hot  afternoon  about 
the  middle  of  July,  and  I  was  getting  ready  to  start  for 
the  little  cottage  in  Elizabeth,  where  I  had  my  home 
with  my  black-eyed  widow-mother  and  my  rosy-cheeked 
school-girl  sister.  As  I  went  into  the  counting-room, 
after  adjusting  my  necktie  and  putting  on  my  coat,  Mr. 
Johnson  handed  me  a  slip  of  paper  and  then  stood  and 
looked  at  me,  with  his  back  against  the  desk  and  his 
thumbs  in  the  arm-holes  of  his  vest.  I  was  a  little 
startled  when  I  saw  that  the  paper  was  a  check,  payable 
to  my  order,  for  $200. 

"  What  is  this  ?  "  I  asked.  "  Are  you  going  to  dis- 
charge me  ?  " 

"  Not  much,  Bidrop,"  he  answered.  The  truth  is  that 
we  want  you  to  take  a  little  vacation.  You  have  been 
working  like  a  horse,  without  any  let-up,  for  years  ;  and 
we  have  noticed  lately  that  you  have  a  worn  and  anxious 


2  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

look  we  don't  like.  You  try  to  be  as  pleasant  as  ever  to 
our  customers  ;  but  your  smile  looks  a  little  too  much  as 
if  it  came  up  from  a  sense  of  duty.  We  want  to  see  the 
old  glow  back  on  your  face  once  more.  It  is  all  for  our 
own  interest,  you  know.  We  want  you  to  be  in  tip-top 
condition  when  you  go  upon  the  road  next  fall,  though 
we  can't  expect  you  to  beat  the  record  you  made  last 
year.  You  worked  up  a  magnificant  trade  for  us  in  Iowa 
and  Nebraska  and  in  the  Carolinas.  The  orders  are 
coming  in  like  hot  shot  all  the  time.  Now  be  off  to  the 
mountains,  or  somewhere,  and  go  to  resting  with  all  your 
might.  Don't  let  us  see  you  here  again  for  six  weeks. 
Your  salary  will  be  running  right  ahead,  you  know. 
Good-bye." 

He  shook  my  hand  heartily,  whirled  around,  and  had 
his  pen  moving  instantly. 

I  was  in  a  queer  state  of  mind  as  I  walked  toward  the 
ferry.  Mr.  Johnson's  proceeding  had  been  so  unexpected, 
and  the  thought  of  a  vacation  was  so  new  to  me,  that  I 
could  not  reflect  connectedly  for  some  minutes.  At 
length  the  single  fact  flashed  upon  me,  that  I  had  two 
hundred  dollars  on  which  I  had  not  counted,  with  full 
command  of  my  time  for  six  weeks  ;  and  my  heart  gave 
a  joyous  bound.  "  Who  knows,"  I  asked  myself,  "but 
this  is  the  solution  of  my  problem  ?  I  have  a  few  hun- 
dred dollars  besides,  and  why  can't  I  make  a  big  strike 
as  well  as  other  men  ? " 

My  thoughts  were  gallopping  wildly,  and  possibilities 
came  and  went,  for  a  while,  with  bewildering  swiftness. 
Then  I  remembered  that  I  had  a  very  intimate  friend 
occupying  a  confidential  position  in  the  office  of  the 
Standard  Oil  Company.  "Joe  will  do  any  thing  for  me," 
was  my  thought,  "  and  I  believe  he  will  give  me  such 


GETTING    ACQUAINTED.  3 

pointers  that  I  can  make  money,  hand  over  fist,  in  petro- 
leum. I  can  put  up  a  very  handsome  margin." 

As  I  went  upon  the  boat  and  passed  through  to  the 
forward  cabin,  I  was  mentally  selecting  the  broker 
through  whom  I  would  operate.  Very  soon  I  had  a 
vision  of  myself  hurrying  to  the  exchange  and  calling  out 
my  broker  to  inquire  about  the  quotations.  I  can  re- 
member just  where  I  sat  when  my  charming  castle  be- 
came a  heap  of  ruins.  The  bomb  that  demolished  it  was 
the  mental  question,  "  What  if  I  should  meet  Mr.  John- 
son on  my  way  to  the  Petroleum  Exchange  ? "  My  sur- 
render was  not  instantaneous  ;  but,  while  I  was  planning 
a  route  through  the  city,  on  which  there  would  be  little 
risk  of  such  an  encounter,  another  thought  made  me 
spring  to  my  feet  with  an  impulse  to  knock  somebody 
down  for  proposing  that  I  should  play  the  sneak.  I 
saw,  with  perfect  distinctness,  that  I  must  either  re- 
turn the  check  to  Mr.  Johnson,  or  use  it  in  accordance 
with  his  generous  design.  Setting  aside  the  unexpected 
two  hundred  dollars  as  something  not  to  be  employed  in 
speculation,  I  was  considering  how  far  my  little  accum- 
ulation of  savings  would  go  in  the  way  of  margins,  when 
I  began  to  see  in  a  new  light  the  nature  of  the  favor 
which  I  had  thought  of  obtaining  from  my  friend  in  the 
office  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company.  Then,  of  course, 
the  whole  scheme  had  to  be  thrown  to  the  winds.  "  No, 
no,"  I  said  ;  "  if  Joe  Bargleman  ever  proves  himself  un- 
worthy of  a  confidential  position,  it  shall  not  be  my  fault." 

•When  I  had  taken  my  seat  in  the  car  I  began  to  grow 
philosophical.  "After  all,"  I  thought,  "  the  right  way  is 
the  best  way,  and  the  way  in  which  a  fellow  is  most  likely 
to  hit  on  expedients  for  the  solution  of  difficulties.  My 
employers  wish  me  to  put  myself  in  the  best  possible  con- 


4  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

dition  for  my  next  drumming  tours,  and  have  provided 
me  with  the  means  of  doing  so.  My  duty  to  them  is 
perfectly  plain,  and  I  can  see  now  how  wretchedly  unfit 
for  their  work  I  should  be  if  I  should  spend  the  next  six 
weeks  in  the  hubbub  of  the  Oil  Exchange,  with  hopes 
and  fears  making  a  battle-ground  of  my  heart  and  keep- 
ing me  half  crazy.  Very  probably  it  is  better  for  me,  as 
well  as  for  them,  that  I  should  get  off  somewhere  and 
turn  my  wits  loose  for  a  while.  Perhaps,  when  they  find 
themselves  unhitched,  they  will  start  off  on  their  own 
hook  and  make  some  discoveries  that  would  never  come 
in  their  way  if  they  were  kept  harnessed  up  for  drudgery." 
Another  plan  soon  took  form  in  my  mind.  I  knew  a 
delightful  place  on  the  western  shore  of  Lake  Champlain, 
with  a  plenty  of  mountains  in  sight,  where  the  necessary 
expenses  of  one  person  would  not  exceed  ten  dollars  a 
week  ;  and  I  saw  that  I  had  means  to  procure  a  vacation 
for  my  mother  and  my  sister  Dolly,  as  well  as  for  myself. 
Through  anticipation  of  pleasure  in  watching  the  signs 
of  pleasure  on  the  faces  so  dear  to  me,  I  approached  the 
vine-curtained  door  of  our  little  brown  cottage  in  high 
spirts.  But  this  plan,  also,  had  to  be  given  up  at  last. 
When  I  had  announced  it,  mother  and  Dolly  looked  at  each 
other  wistfully  for  a  moment,  and  then  both  shook  their 
heads.  I  was  disappointed  and  irritated,  and  made  some 
spiteful  remark  which  I  am  glad  to  have  forgotten.  My 
mother  sat  down  by  my  side  and  laid  her  hand  on  my 
arm.  "  You  misunderstand  me,"  George,  she  said.  "  I 
can't  tell  you  how  glad  I  am  that  you  have  this  chance 
for  rest  and  recreation.  It  is  just  what  I  have  been 
wishing  for.  You  don't  know  how  anxious  I  have  been 
about  you  all  summer,  or  how  afraid  I  have  been  that 
your  constant  work  and  anxiety  would  break  you  down 


GETTING    ACQUAINTED.  5 

completely.  Every  evening  when  you  have  come  home, 
I  have  felt  a  great  relief  in  seeing  that  you  were  not  sick. 
The  rest  will  do  you  a  world  of  good.  But  Dolly  and 
I  have  n't  a  particle  of  need  of  any  thing  of  the  kind." 

Here  Dolly,  standing  at  my  shoulder  with  her  arm 
around  my  neck,  put  in  :  "  O  you  dear  old  Georgy  ;  you 
have  been  slaving  yourself  to  death  for  us.  And  we, 
great  lazy  things,  never  do  anything.  Why,  just  look  at 
me.  I  shall  get  so  fat  I  can't  waddle  if  I  keep  on." 

"  Besides,"  added  my  mother,  "  there  are  some  cir- 
cumstances that  make  it  impossible  for  us  to  go." 

"  Oh,"  said  I,  petulantly,  "  I  suppose  your  wardrobes 
are  not  satisfactory.  But  you  would  n't  find  any  fools 
up  there.  They  all  go  to  Saratoga,  or  Newport,  or  some 
such  place." 

At  this  unkind  speech,  which  I  knew  to  be  wholly 
destitute  of  justification,  the  good  lady  blazed  up  a  little. 
There  was  a  slight  flush  on  her  cheeks,  and  her  black 
eyes  were  quite  expressive,  when  she  said  :  "  I  am  not 
going  to  have  you  think  me  a  simpleton,  and  so  I  shall 
have  to  tell  you  the  real  state  of  the  case.  No  thought 
of  wardrobes  entered  our  heads.  The  truth  is,  if  you 
must  know  it,  that  we  can't  leave  home  because  I  have 
agreed  to  furnish  one-o'clock  dinners  for  three  gentle- 
men who  live  out  on  little  fruit  farms,  but  do  business  in 
the  town.  Two  of  the  gentlemen  are  connected  with  the 
paraffine  factory,  and  the  other  one  is  a  lawyer.  I  have 
been  getting  dinners  for  them  just  two  weeks.  Keep 
still  and  I  will  tell  you  all  about  it,"  she  continued,  as 
her  tones  grew  deprecatory  and  she  caressed  the  hand 
which  was  lying  on  the  arm  of  my  chair.  "  A  few  weeks 
ago,  Mrs.  Martinson,  the  wife  of  one  of  these  gentlemen, 
rode  in  and  spent  the  day  with  me.  I  got  up  a  nice  little 


6  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

dinner,  and  she  praised  it  extravagantly.  You  know  that 
my  cooking  is  the  only  thing  I  was  ever  proud  of.  Except 
my  husband  and  my  children,"  she  added,  after  a  pause, 
with  tears  gathering  in  her  eyes.  Mastering  her  emo- 
tion, she  went  on  :  "  Well,  Mrs.  Martinson  said,  over  and 
over,  that  she  wished  her  husband  could  get  his  dinners 
here.  And  then  she  told  how  dirty  every  thing  was  at 
the  restaurant,  and  how  greasy  all  the  food  was,  and  how 
he  could  n't  spare  time  to  take  his  dinner  at  the  hotel 
because  it  took  forever  to  get  waited  on,  and  so  forth. 
That  set  me  to  thinking,  and  before  she  went  I  told  her 
that  if  two  or  three  other  gentlemen  would  come  with  her 
husband,  so  as  to  make  it  an  object,  perhaps  I  would 
furnish  the  dinners.  They  pay  me  seventy-five  cents 
apiece  for  each  dinner,  and  I  enjoy  it  amazingly.  I  have 
figured  it  all  up  ;  and  I  am  certain  that  I  am  making 
more  than  seven  dollars  a  week  clear  profit." 

"I  have  been  making  money  too,  Mr.  Georgy,"  said 
Dolly,  turning  her  head  like  a  canary  bird.  "  We  shall 
be  richer  than  Jews  pretty  soon." 

"  Am  I  to  be  favored  with  some  information  concern- 
ing the  nature  of  your  lucrative  employment?"  I 
inquired. 

"  Why,  I  have  been  taking  lessons  in  embroidery,  so 
that  I  could  make  little  things  to  sell  ;  and  I  have  sold 
six  of  my  exercises  for  seventy-five  cents." 

"  Your  exercises  !  " 

"  Why,  yes  ;  my  exercises.  When  I  write  out  my  French 
just  to  learn  how  to  write  French,  they  call  what  I  write 
an  exercise.  So,  when  I  work  a  little  mat,  or  any  thing, 
just  to  learn  how  to  work  it,  I  call  that  an  exercise." 

"  Your  reasoning  is  incontrovertible,"  I  said. 

"  Incontro what  ?     O  what  a  big  word." 


GETTING    ACQUAINTED.  7 

She  skipped  into  the  dining-room,  and  I  could  hear 
her  singing,  as  she  busied  herself  with  the  supper-table  : 
"  I  've  got  a  big  brother  and  he  uses  big  words  ; 
He  uses  big  words  ;  he  uses  big  words  ; 
He  uses,  he  uses,  he  uses,  he  uses 
Big  words,  big  wor — er — er — er — er — erds." 

"  Mother,"  I  asked,  "  have  you  seen  any  reason  to 
think  it  necessary  for  you  to  roast  yourself  to  death  over 
the  kitchen-stove  in  this  abominably  hot  weather  ?  Have 
you  imagined  that  I  wanted  you  to  do  any  such  thing  ?  " 

"  Oh,  no,  no,  my  precious  son,"  she  answered.  "  I  knew 
you  would  n't  like  it,  and  I  meant  to  keep  you  from 
knowing  any  thing  about  it.  But  that  '  roasting '  that 
you  talk  of  is  all  nonsense.  My  kitchen  is  very  airy,  and 
there  is  no  use  in  a  woman's  hanging  over  the  stove  all 
the  time  if  she  knows  her  business.  When  my  fire  is  all 
right  I  can  tell  to  a  second  when  my  bread  or  my  roast  is 
ready  to  be  taken  out  ;  and  I  never  go  near  them  till  the 
time  comes.  It  is  very  easy  to  spoil  a  roast  by  opening 
the  oven-door  a  dozen  times  to  look  at  it.  Then,  when 
I  am  cooking  steak,  or  eggs,  or  any  thing  else  that  needs 
a  little  closer  attention,  I  only  have  to  walk  around  once 
in  a  while  and  give  it  a  little  touch  as  I  am  passing." 

"  Still,"  I  persisted,  "  you  seem  to  think  a  great  deal 
about  saving  a  little  money." 

She  cast  down  her  eyes  and  reflected  a  moment  before 
she  answered,  with  a  touch  of  sadness  on  her  countenance: 
''  Well,  George,  I  will  tell  you  the  truth.  I  have  noticed, 
ever  since  you  returned  from  the  South  last  spring,  that 
money  had  become  to  you  what  it  never  was  before." 

I  said  :  "  I  should  like  to  know  what  there  has  been 
in  my  actions  to  show  that  I  have  suddenly  become 
miserly." 


8  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

"  O,  don't  say  '  miserly,'  George.  Nobody  will  ever 
dream  of  applying  that  hateful  word  to  you.  We 
mothers  don't  need  to  have  our  children  tell  us  they 
are  troubled  :  they  can't  hide  such  a  fact  from  us.  I 
know  you  have  been  very  anxious  about  something, 
and  several  little  circumstances  have  convinced  me  that 
your  anxiety  was  of  a  kind  that  money  would  relieve, 
though  you  have  continued  to  spend  altogether  too  much 
for  Dolly  and  me." 

"  Won't  you  name  some  of  those  circumstances  ?  " 
"  Well,  you  refused  to  order  a  new  summer  suit  for 
yourself  when  I  asked  you  to,  and  said  the  old  one  would 
do  for  the  present.  Then,  one  morning  when  your  bed- 
room door  stood  open,  I  saw  you  looking  dolefully  at  your 
thread-bare  cravat,  and  heard  you  say  to  yourself  you 
guessed  it  would  pass  muster  for  a  while  yet.  And  do 
you  remember  when  I  spoke  to  you  about  Dolly's  need- 
ing a  new  hat  ?  You  did  n't  say  a  word  ;  but  a  pained 
expression  that  haunted  me  all  day  came  over  your  face. 
And  you  went  right  off  and  punished  yourself  by  bring- 
ing home  a  hat  twice  as  expensive  as  the  one  I  had  asked 
you  to  get.  Oh,  I  know  you,  sir.  But  I  have  a  stronger 
proof  yet  to  mention.  You  have  taken  to  smoking  cheap 
cigars,  that  have  none  of  that  delicious  odor  which  I  used 
to  enjoy  so  much.  You  know  I  have  not  urged  you  to 
stay  in  the  house  to  smoke  your  after-supper  cigar  this 
summer,  except  on  one  or  two  rainy  evenings.  That 
makes  me  think,"  she  added,  with  a  merry  laugh,  "  when 
I  came  in  sight  of  Chomley's  wooden  Indian  to-day,  I 
suddenly  felt  a  strange  longing  to  see  you  sitting  in  your 
arm-chair  enjoying  a  good  smoke  once  more  ;  so  I  went 
in  and  told  him  to  give  me  a  dollar's  worth  of  his  best 
cigars.  How  many  do  you  suppose  he  gave  me  ?  " 


GETTING     ACQUAINTED.  9 

"  Ten  or  twelve,"  I  answered. 

"  Only  seven  !  "  she  exclaimed. 

"  They  must  be  superb  then,"  I  said,  "  for  Chomley  is 
honest.  I  have  been  buying  twenty-five  for  a  dollar 
lately." 

"  There,"  said  my  mother,  shaking  her  finger  at  me 
triumphantly,  "  did  n't  I  tell  you  ?  "  Now  don't  pretend 
any  more  that  you  are  not  anxious  to  save  money." 

While  we  were  at  the  supper-table  Dolly  broke  the 
silence,  which  had  lasted  some  time,  by  saying  to  me  : 

"  If  you  don't  tell  us  what  you  are  thinking  about, 
young  man,  we  shall  make  up  our  minds  that  you  are 
getting  ready  to  scold  us  again." 

I  answered  that  I  was  trying  to  imagine  how  I  could 
manage  to  spend  my  two  hundred  dollars  all  alone. 

'*  You  will  manage  that  easily  enough,"  my  mother  said. 
"  You  must  hire  horses  and  take  long  rides  over  the  hills  ; 
and  you  must  have  a  boat  for  rowing  on  the  lake  and 
fishing.  Only  you  will  be  very  careful  not  to  get  caught 
out  in  a  high  wind  ;  won't  you,  dear  ?  " 

"  I  '11  tell  you,"  Dolly  broke  in.  "  You  must  fall  in 
love  with  a  beautiful  young  lady,  and  hire  a  brass  band  to 
serenade  her,  and  buy  bouquets  for  her  every  morning, 
and  every  thing  of  that  sort.  But  you  must  get  over 
your  love-fit  just  before  you  come  home.  We  are  not 
going  to  divide  you  up  with  anybody  yet  awhile.  We 
won't  let  anybody  else  have  a  piece  of  you  as  big  as  a 
pea." 

This  last  remark  gave  my  thoughts  so  sombre  a  hue 
that  I  exerted  myself  to  appear  very  hilarious.  I  suspect, 
however,  that  my  nonsensical  gabble  operated  on  my 
mother  more  in  the  way  of  revelation  than  in  that  of 
deception. 


10  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

When  Dolly  had  retired,  and  I  sat  smoking  one  of 
those  excellent  cigars  which  my  mother  had  bought  fpr 
me,  and  looking  at  her  as  she  read  the  evening  paper,  my 
heart  was  very  full.  She  was  then  forty-eight  years  old 
— just  twenty-three  years  older  than  myself, — the  daughter 
of  a  farmer  and  the  widow  of  a  clergyman.  Her  life  had 
been  a  life  of  hard  work,  or,  rather,  of  what  would  have 
been  hard  work  to  a  woman  less  able  to  make  every 
movement  effective.  I  could  remember  but  few  times  at 
which  a  servant  had  been  seen  in  the  house.  And  yet 
there  were  no  silvery  threads  in  her  coal-black  hair,  and 
no  wrinkles  on  her  shapely  brow.  The  secret  was,  that 
all  her  toil  had  been  loving  toil. 

"  Do  you  know,"  I  asked,  after  a  long  silence,  "  that  I 
should  have  become  a  reprobate  if  I  had  not  been  blest 
with  the  best  mother  in  the  world  ?  " 

She  came  across  the  room  quickly,  kissed  my  fore- 
head, and  answered,  with  a  voice  indicating  deep  emo- 
tion :  "  No,  George,  that  could  never  have  been.  It  is 
not  conceivable  that  your  father's  son  should  have  be- 
come a  bad  man  under  any  circumstances.  But  you 
make  me  very  happy  when  you  give  me  reason  to  think 
that  I  have  helped  you  a  little  to  be  true  and  noble,  and 
that  I  can  still  help  you  to  grow  nobler  as  you  grow 
older  and  wiser."  She  was  leaning  on  my  knee  and 
looking  up  into  my  eyes  when  she  added  :  "  It  is  right 
for  you  to  wish  to  improve  your  circumstances,  and  to 
look  forward  to  a  time  when  you  will  have  more  power 
to  do  good  in  the  world.  Of  course  that  is  your  duty  ; 
and  you  will  be  very  watchful  and  see  that  nothing  like 
avarice  ever  gets  possession  of  you  ;  won't  you,  dear  ?  " 

"  Yes,  mother,"  I  answered,  vehemently,  "  I  will  fight 
against  that  passion  with  all  my  might,  and  I  bless  you 
for  the  warning." 


GETTING     ACQUAINTED.  II 

The  evening  of  which  I  have  been  giving  an  account 
has  stood  out  in  my  mind  ever  since  as  one  of  the  most 
decisive  sections  of  my  life.  The  hour  which  followed 
my  going  to  bed  was  very  far  from  being  a  happy  one.  I 
took  the  full  measure  of  the  peril  in  which  I  had  been 
standing,  and  the  proud  security  which  had  long  been 
habitual  with  me  was  completely  annihilated.  Having  no 
dangerous  appetites  ;  having  outlived  the  fear  of  being 
considered  "  green  "  by  my  associates  ;  having  found 
that  my  refusal  to  join  with  other  commercial  travellers 
in  any  kind  of  dissipation  was  no  drawback  to  my  enjoy- 
ment of  social  intercourse  with  them  as  we  came  together 
at  various  points  on  our  tours,  but  seemed  rather  to 
favor,  the  growth  of  their  good-will  toward  me,  and 
having  been  ever  conscious  of  that  detestation  of  dis- 
honesty and  of  meanness  in  all  its  forms,  which  my 
parents  had  assiduously  cultivated  in  me,  I  had  seen  no 
need  of  vigilance  so  far  as  my  personal  characteristics 
were  concerned.  But  now  my  eyes  were  opened,  and  my 
head  was  hot  with  shame,  as  I  beheld  what  had  been 
taking  place  within  me  during  the  last  few  months.  For 
a  special  object,  which  had  taken  such  a  hold  on  my 
heart  as  no  immediate  object  of  endeavor  had  ever  taken 
before,  I  had  desired  to  accumulate  a  considerab'e  sum 
of  money  as  speedily  as  possible.  This  desire  had 
gained  entire  possession  of  my  faculties,  and  all  my 
thoughts  not  necessarily  occupied  with  present  duties 
had  connected  themselves  with  money-making.  When 
wearied  with  endeavoring  to  contrive  ways  by  which  I 
could  "  get  a  start,"  I  had  fallen  into  the  habit  of  assum- 
ing that  the  initial  difficulties  would  be  overcome,  and 
had  then  permitted  my  imagination  to  heat  itself  with 
magnificent  schemes  and  go  on  its  way  triumphantly  to 


12  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

place  me  in  possession  of  great  riches.  I  was  disgusted 
with  myself  beyond  measure  when  I  saw  that  the  money, 
which  I  had  at  first  counted  on  only  as  a  mean  to  the 
securing  of  an  ulterior  object,  had  been  growing  with 
me  to  the  proportions  of  a  supreme  end.  I  was  forced 
to  the  conviction  that,  in  the  state  of  mind  which  had 
lately  become  habitual  with  me,  I  should  have  chosen 
money-making  in  preference  to  the  matchless  boon  for 
the  sake  of  which  I  had,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life,  ex- 
perienced an  ardent  desire  to  accumulate  property,  if  the 
alternative  had  been  placed  before  me.  I  charged  my- 
self with  shameful  disloyalty  to  a  holy  purpose.  I  tossed 
myself  angrily  from  one  side  of  my  bed  to  the  other  and 
whispered  hoarsely  :  "  What  a  miserable  botch  I  was 
ready  to  make  of  my  existence  !  An  unmitigated  money- 
maker ! — a  creature  without  a  single  manly  aim  ! — a  curse 
to  the  world  !  Pah  !  "  Gradually,  however,  I  began  to 
taste  that  sweet  fruit  which  heaven-sent  remorse  always 
yields  when  it  is  permitted  to  do  its  legitimate  work." 
"  Rescued,  rescued  !  "  I  said.  "  May  God  ever  bless  my 
dear  mother,  and  may  I  never  forget  that  it  was  God 
who  inspired  her  to  warn  me."  Then  I  could  think 
calmly  of  my  future.  I  was  conscious  that  the  purpose 
from  which  my  moral  descent  had  commenced,  and 
which  had  been  almost  destroyed  in  the  downward 
movement,  as  if  its  life-sustaining  element  could  exist 
only  at  a  high  level,  had  now  revived  in  more  than  its 
original  force.  My  heart  told  me  that  I  could  never 
give  up  the  hope  which  had  blended  itself  with  that  pur- 
pose, and  no  voice  within  me  intimated  that  I  ought  to 
surrender  it.  "  But,"  I  said,  "  that  castle-building  has 
got  to  be  stopped.  My  imagination  shall  not  make  me 
unworthy  of  the  blessedness  for  which  I  am  striving,  and 


GETTING     ACQUAINTED.  13 

Providence  will  open  the  way  for  whatever  accumulation 
is  necessary." 

The  second  afternoon,  following  the  one  which  marks 
the  beginning  of  this  bit  of  personal  history,  I  arrived  at 
Westbay.  The  location  of  that  little  village  seemed  to 
me  to  be  unsurpassed.  It  was  on  high  ground  and  over- 
looked a  broad  bay.  The  opposite  shore  was  four  miles 
distant  directly  in  front,  five  miles  distant  where  the  wa- 
ter-view was  bounded  at  the  left,  and  about  six  miles 
where  it  was  cut  off  by  the  wooded  bay-line  at  the  right. 
That  eastern  shore  was,  for  the  most  part,  jagged  and 
rocky,  and  variegated  with  forest-trees  and  low  clumps 
of  cedar  bushes,  though,  at  two  or  three  points,  the  ground 
sloped  gently  to  the  water's  edge,  and  there  were  a  few 
openings  which  afforded  glimpses  of  meadows  or  pastures 
beyond.  At  the  right  stood  a  round-topped,  isolated 
mountain.  It  was  more  than  ten  miles  away  ;  but,  in 
that  clear  air,  the  foliage  with  which  it  was  covered  still 
fed  our  eyes  with  the  richest  green.  At  the  most  distant 
point  in  sight  at  the  northeast,  the  color  of  Camel's 
Hump  was  blending  with  that  of  the  sky.  For  the  rest, 
the  whole  field  of  vision  on  the  eastern  side  was  bounded 
by  the  varying  blue,  and  gracefully  curving,  outline  of 
the  Green  Mountains.  The  bay-shore  at  the  left  was 
almost  mountainous  in  its  elevation  and  densely  wooded, 
with  here  and  there  a  naked  cliff,  while  that  at  the  right 
terminated  in  a  bushy  point  but  a  few  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  water.  Back  of  the  village  were  several 
hills,  each  of  which  commanded  a  charming  prospect  of 
its  own  ;  and  one  of  them  gave,  through  an  opening  be- 
tween much  larger  hills,  a  fine  view  of  the  easternmost 
spur  of  the  Adirondacks.  The  little  hotel,  at  which  I  took 
my  quarters,  was  newly  built  and  delightfully  arranged. 


14  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

It  was  designed  for  the  accommodation  of  about  thirty 
boarders,  with  a  reservation  of  several  rooms  for  tran- 
sient guests.  It  had  one  advantage  over  all  other  houses 
of  a  similar  size  that  I  had  ever  seen  :  the  parlor  was  so 
spacious  that  all  the  boarders  could  assemble  there  with- 
out any  fear  of  crowding  each  other,  whether  they  divided 
into  knots,  or  fell  into  general  conversation.  This  parlor 
was  provided  with  an  excellent  piano.  The  house  fronted 
westwardly  and  immediately  on  the  street ;  but,  on  the 
eastern  side,  was  a  broad  piazza,  sixty  feet  long,  over- 
looking a  steep  grassy  slope  and  the  whole  expanse  of 
the  bay.  The  parlor  and  piazza,  would  have  compensated 
for  an  indifferent  table  ;  but  there  was  no  ground  of 
complaint  on  that  score.  Owing  to  these  facilities  for 
gathering  in  a  body,  and  to  the  limited  number  that  the 
house  could  accommodate,  the  company  of  sojourners 
had  much  the  appearance  of  a  single  family.  Though 
few  of  them  had  been  acquainted  with  each  other  before, 
I  found  them  on  terms  of  mutual  familiarity,  with  a  gen- 
eral disposition  to  make  new-comers  feel  at  home.  With 
the  exception  of  two  or  three  such  persons  as  are  to  be 
met  with  everywhere — always  self-conscious  and  con- 
stantly aiming  to  make  an  impression  of  one  kind  or  an- 
other,— all  seemed  to  have  left  their  cares  at  home  and 
to  be  governed  by  the  inclination  of  the  passing  hour. 
They  read  when  they  chose  to  read  and  conversed  when 
they  were  so  inclined ;  and  no  one  thought  it  necessary 
to  apologize  for  rambling  off  alone,  or  sitting  in  a  "  brown 
study."  Once  or  twice  on  one  day,  and  half  a  dozen 
times  on  another,  there  was  a  conversation  which  drew 
the  attention  of  the  entire  company.  There  were  grave 
discussions  of  a  great  variety  of  subjects,  and  there  were 
hours  enlivened  with  the  broadest  mirth. 


GETTING     ACQUAINTED.  15 

One  of  the  persons  who  contributed  most  to  the  gen- 
eral enjoyment  was  Professor  Ardick  from  a  western  col- 
lege. His  reputation  for  learning  was  very  high,  and  he 
was  said  to  be  greatly  beloved  by  every  student  and 
alumnus  of  his  college.  He  was  nearly  seventy  years 
old,  but  had  preserved  a  vivacity  of  spirit  which  would 
be  noticeable  in  a  man  of  thirty.  He  was  over  six  feet 
in  height,  and  a  large  man  every  way,  with  no  especial 
grace,  and  yet  with  no  awkwardness  in  his  movements, 
but  with  certain  habits,  in  throwing  about  his  long  arms 
and  legs,  which  were  apt  to  provoke  an  occasional  smile. 
His  countenance,  marked  by  light-blue  eyes,  a  large  nose, 
and  a  small  mouth,  was  so  expressive  that  we  always 
began  to  enjoy  his  ludicrous  conceits  before  he  had  time 
to  clothe  them  in  language.  When  serious  topics  were 
under  discussion,  his  remarks  were  exceedingly  instruc- 
tive, and  always  indicated  an  elevated  moral  tone. 

We  felt  ourselves  strongly  attracted,  also,  toward  Doc- 
tor Inglemen,  a  gray-haired  Presbyterian  D.D.  He 
evinced,  in  a  placid  way,  a  keen  relish  for  the  sparkling 
witticisms  and  humorous  observations  with  which  we 
were  often  treated,  and  occasionally  improved  their  flavor 
by  dropping  a  few  words  which  gave  them  a  new  turn. 
He  took  especial  pains  to  place  himself  on  intimate  terms 
with  the  younger  members  of  our  circle  ;  and  it  was  easy 
to  see  that  he  was  watchful  for  opportunities  to  elevate 
the  tendency  of  their  thoughts  and  to  stimulate  good  im- 
pulses. At  the  same  time  there  was  not  the  slightest 
trace  of  professionalism  in  his  demeanor. 

Another  favorite  was  an  Ohio  judge,  who  was  a  native 
of  Westbay,  and  had  achieved  distinction  in  his  profes- 
sion. He  was  said  to  be  wealthy,  and  he  made  it  evident 
that  the  acquisition  of  property  had  lost  none  of  its  zest 


l6  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

for  him,  though  no  one  charged  that  it  had  ever  been  his 
paramount  aim.  We  observed,  however,  that  he  was  fond 
of  talking  with  two  retired  merchants  from  New  York  on 
various  schemes  which  were  then  prominent  among 
capitalists. 

The  person  who  was  surest  to  dispel  any  cloud  of  dul- 
ness  that  might  be  threatening  to  settle  down  upon  us 
was  a  young  man,  a  little  older  than  myself,  by  the  name 
of  Egbert  Mixley.  He  called  himself  a  Bohemian,  be- 
cause after  leaving  college  he  had  led  a  somewhat  roving 
life,  both  in  Europe  and  in  his  own  country,  supporting 
himself  in  part  by  corresponding  with  various  newspapers. 
At  that  time  he  was  arranging  to  settle  down  to  regular 
work  as  a  journalist,  a  plan  which  he  has  since  carried 
out  with  great  success. 

The  one  with  whom  I  first  found  myself  conversing,  on 
the  evening  of  my  arrival,  was  Mrs.  Erdby,  a  widow  from 
Boston,  as  I  soon  learned.  We  had  come  out  from  our 
six-o'clock  tea  and  were  standing  on  the  piazza.  The 
surface  of  the  water  was  as  smooth  as  glass  ;  and  I  was 
looking  downward  at  the  reflection  of  the  clouds,  made 
golden  by  the  setting  sun,  when  a  lady  at  my  side  said  to 
me  :  "  If  you  will  look  up  at  those  golden  clouds  and 
then  at  those  distant  mountains,  I  think  you  will  be  im- 
pressed by  the  sight."  I  acted  on  the  suggestion  and 
was  quite  startled  at  first.  The  mountains  which,  half  an 
hour  before,  had  been  clad  in  a  very  pale  blue,  now  pre- 
sented a  dark  and  almost  menacing  aspect. 

"  That  is  very  remarkable.  I  thank  you  for  calling  my 
attention  to  it,"  I  said  as  I  turned  and  looked  the  lady 
full  in  the  face. 

She  evinced  considerable  embarrassment  when  she  re- 
plied :  "  I  thought  I  would  take  the  liberty.  We  dispense 
with  ceremonies  to  a  great  extent  here." 


GETTING    ACQUAINTED.  17 

I  saw  in  a  moment  that  the  impulse  which  had 
prompted  her  to  address  me  was  wholly  benevolent. 
She  wanted  me  to  enjoy  that  particular  view  which  can 
be  caught  but  rarely,  and  is  never  of  long  duration.  Be- 
sides, she  desired  to  see  me  relieved  as  soon  as  possible 
of  that  sense  of  isolation  with  which  she  knew  me  to  be 
burdened.  I  said,  therefore  :  "  You  are  commending  the 
place  very  highly.  Ceremoniousness  often  stands  in  the 
way  of  kindness  to  strangers.  My  name  is  Bidrop,"  I 
continued,  handing  her  my  card. 

She  then  gave  me  her  own  address  and  introduced  me 
to  her  niece,  Miss  Kitty  Evalstone,  and  her  son  Charley. 
The  former  I  took  to  be  about  seventeen  years  old.  She 
was  a  slender  girl  of  less  than  the  medium  height,  but 
obviously  full  of  vitality,  with  brown  eyes,  a  great  abun- 
dance of  silky  auburn  hair,  and  a  complexion  which  re- 
minded one  of  the  "nut-brown  maid."  Her  mouth, 
when  in  repose,  was  a  beautiful  feature  suggestive  of 
affectionateness  ;  but  I  soon  perceived  that  its  form  de- 
pended very  much  on  the  feelings  of  the  passing  moment. 
Her  nose,  well-formed  in  the  main,  terminated  rather 
abruptly,  with  its  point  at  an  elevation  which  would  have 
precluded  surprise  at  the  pertness  of  any  retort  which 
might  be  elicited  from  her. 

Charley  was  a  slender  ten-year-old  boy,  apparently  not 
in  the  best  of  health. 

Mrs.  Erdby  herself  was  about  thirty  years  old,  with  a 
finely  proportioned  form  of  somewhat  more  than  average 
size.  Her  complexion  was  quite  fair,  though  her  hair 
was  nearly  black,  and  her  eyes,  when  examined  closely, 
were  seen  to  have  a  ground-work  of  dark  gray,  mottled 
with  jet-black  specks.  Her  forehead  tended  to  massive- 
ness  without  exceeding  the  limits  of  symmetry.  It  is  not 


l8  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

probable  that  she  was  ever  called  a  beauty,  and  yet  it  is 
certain  that  no  one  ever  considered  her  deficient  in 
comeliness.  Though  Mrs.  Erdby  had  been  the  first 
person  to  engage  me  in  conversation,  and  that  without  an 
introduction,  I  soon  found  that  she  was  the  reverse  of 
obtrusive.  She  was  strongly  disinclined  to  take  part  in 
general  discussion  ;  and  it  was  only  when  directly  ap- 
pealed to,  or  when  prompted  by  deep  interest  ia  the 
subject,  that  she  would  favor  us  with  a  remark.  And 
yet  we  all  felt  that  she  was  the  best  of  company.  Though 
the  repose  of  her  manner  never  disappeared  for  a  mo- 
ment, there  was  something  in  her  countenance  which 
gave  every  speaker  a  satisfactory  response  and  the  assur- 
ance of  being  completely  understood.  I  have  not  the 
slightest  recollection  of  any  thing  in  her  dress,  except 
that  it  presented  no  tokens  of  her  widowhood.  Her 
husband  had  been  dead  for  several  years. 

Each  of  our  days  was  marked  by  two  events  of  some 
interest  :  the  steamer  arrived  with  Albany  papers  at  one 
o'clock,  and  the  train  brought  the  New  York  papers  at 
five.  Of  course,  our  eyes  were  always  out  for  new- 
comers, and  we  were  free  with  our  conjectures  in  regard 
to  them.  One  evening  the  spring-wagon  brought  from 
the  depot  a  gentleman  who  excited  my  curiosity  so  much 
that  I  followed  him  into  the  office  and  kept  watch  while 
he  registered.  He  wrote  in  a  heavy  sprawling  hand  : 
"  Ralph  Jorman,  New  York."  My  hasty  mental  inventory 
was  as  follows  :  "  Five  feet  eleven  inches  in  height ; 
broad  muscular  frame  ;  unusually  spare,  but  perfectly 
healthy  ;  forty  years  old  ;  smoothly  shaven  face  ;  sandy 
hair  and  light-gray  eyes  ;  a  good  substantial  nose,  a 
generous  mouth,  and  a  rather  prominent  chin."  As  he 
took  off  his  hat  and  fanned  himself  with  it,  I  observed 


GETTING    ACQUAINTED.  19 

that  there  were  no  curves  in  his  forehead,  and  that  the 
hair  grew  upon  it  in  such  a  way  that  one  could  not  easily 
tell  whether  it  was  high  or  low.  He  wore  a  light-colored 
suit  of  expensive  material,  which  fitted  him  perfectly. 
At  the  same  time  there  was  a  certain  appearance  of 
negligence  about  him  which  caused  me  to  make  the 
mental  comment  :  "  He  has  plenty  of  money  and  an 
excellent  tailor,  who  keeps  up  the  wardrobe  according 
to  his  own  notions.  This  man  never  gives  a  second 
thought  to  the  matter  of  clothes  himself." 

The  first  utterance  of  the  stranger  was  the  question  : 
"  What  is  the  chance  for  getting  out  to  Lake  Placid  ?  " 

As  no  one  else  replied  immediately,  I  remarked  :  "  A 
team  has  just  come  in  from  there  with  some  passengers 
and  will  be  going  back  in  the  morning.  The  driver  is 
stopping  at  the  other  house over  here  a  little  way." 

"  Thanks,"  he  said,  turning  upon  me  a  searching  look 
which  came  very  near  to  being  prolonged  into  a  stare. 
Then  he  dropped  his  eyes  as  if  conscious  of  an  approach 
to  rudeness,  and  seemed  for  a  moment  to  be  reflecting 
on  what  he  had  seen.  Soon  afterwards  he  was  shown  to 
his  room,  and  I  saw  no  more  of  him  till  we  had  come  out 
from  tea.  I  then  introduced  myself  to  him  and  we  talked 
about  the  scenery.  He  interested  me  greatly  by  com- 
parisons between  the  prospect  before  us  and  those  to  be 
found  at  certain  points  among  the  lakes  of  Switzerland. 
In  a  short  time  I  felt  that  I  was  well  acquainted  with  Mr. 
Jorman,  and  took  occasion  to  introduce  him  to  others. 


CHAPTER    II. 

LAKESIDE    PASTIMES. 

A  FTER  the  lamps  were  lighted,  on  the  evening  of 
**•  Mr.  Jorman's  arrival,  we  all  gathered  in  the 
parlor.  Mrs.  Erdby,  who  was  by  far  the  best  per- 
former among  us,  was  induced  to  take  a  seat  at  the 
piano  and  favor  us  with  several  instrumental  pieces  as 
they  were  called  for  by  one  and  another.  Then  she 
played  an  accompaniment,  while  Miss  Kitty,  who  had  a 
clear,  bird-like  voice  of  considerable  volume,  gave  us  a 
sparkling  little  song.  This  was  followed  by  quartet 
singing  until  attention  was  attracted  by  the  merriment  of 
Professor  Ardick  and  Mr.  Mixley.  The  latter  had  been 
writing  in  a  corner  of  the  room,  and  was  showing  the 
Professor  what  he  had  written. 

"  I  observe,"  said  the  Judge  in  magisterial  tones, 
"  that  two  individuals  are  appropriating  to  their  own  per- 
sonal and  exclusive  benefit  a  certain  article  which  is  the 
common  property  of  this  company.  Such  breaches  of 
trust  are  not  to  be  tolerated  in  this  highly  civilized  land, 
and  I  now  issue  a  peremptory  mandamus  requiring  those 
gentlemen  to  produce  instanter  the  wrongfully  appropri- 
ated article." 

After  a  moment  the  Professor  arose  with  an  attempt 
at  mock  gravity,  but  with  a  visage  full  of  fun,  and  said 
in  a  voice  not  under  very  good  control  :  "  I  confess  that 
I  have  been  at  fault.  I  did  not  entertain  a  deliberate 


LAKESIDE    PASTIMES.  21 

purpose  to  trample  upon  the  rights  of  the  distinguished 
persons — the  fair  women  and  brave  men — with  whom  I 
am  proud  to  be  associated.  But  there  are  some  strokes 
of  genius  so  exceptional  that,  when  they  hit  us  without 
premonition,  they  make  us  oblivious,  for  the  time  being, 
of  our  obligations.  The  nature  of  that — er — er — that 
phenomenal  outburst,  which  temporarily  paralyzed  my 
conscience,  I  will  not  describe  further  than  to  say  that 
the  literature  of  our  country  has  just  been  enriched  by  a 
poem  which  I  am  unable  adequately  to  characterize 
without  more  extended  reflection.  It  now  remains  for 
my  friend  and  associate  in  crime  to  obey  the  order  of  the 
court." 

"  The  poem  !  the  poem  !  "  was  called  out  on  all  sides. 

Mixley  stood  up  and  assumed  a  pompous  attitude, 
throwing  his  long  hair  into  disorder  to  give  himself  a 
wild  appearance.  Then  holding  his  manuscript  at  arm's 
length  in  his  left  hand,  he  gesticulated  with  his  right 
while  he  read  these  stanzas  : 

"  O  Lake  Champlain  !  O  Champlain  Lake  ! 
Thy  waters  clear, 
Which  I  am  near, 
So  bright  appear 
That  in  my  heart  a  considerable  bobbery  they  make. 

' '  Thou  hast  done  much  for  navigation  ; 
And  some  of  thy  fish 
Make  as  good  a  dish 
As  anybody  could  wish, 
Whatever  his  present  means  or  his  reasonable  expectation." 

When  the  applause  and  laughter  had  begun  to  subside 
the  Judge  spoke  again.  "  I  share,"  he  said,  "  in  the  favor- 
able impression  which  this  remarkable  poem  has  pro- 


22  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

duced.  But  experience  teaches  that  it  is  imprudent 
either  to  commend  or  condemn  a  work  of  literary  art 
before  critical  judgment  has  been  pronounced  upon  it. 
I  have,  myself,  with  all  my  well-known  anxiety  to  avoid 
the  putting  forth  of  unpopular  views,  often  experienced 
deep  chagrin  at  reading  strictures  on  productions  which 
I  had  rashly  permitted  myself  to  enjoy  and  to  praise. 
The  question  to  be  decided  here  and  now  is,  What  are 
we  to  think  and  say  about  Mixley's  Apostrophe  to  Lake 
Champlain  ?  What  is  to  be  the  established  doctrine  con- 
cerning it  ?  I  call  upon  Professor  Ardick  to  enunciate 
that  doctrine." 

This  was  received  with  universal  hand-clapping  and 
calls  for  "  The  doctrine  !  "  The  Professor  slid  up  and 
down  in  his  chair,  crossed  and  uncrossed  his  legs,  rubbed 
his  forehead,  and  looked  pale  and  anxious  for  some  mo- 
ments. At  length  his  eyes  began  to  brighten  and  it  was 
evident  that  he  was  seeing  his  way.  Reaching  out  for 
the  manuscript  he  perused  it  for  a  time,  permitting  now 
and  then  a  low  chuckle  to  be  heard,  while  his  lips  took 
one  comical  form  after  another.  Finally  he  arose,  with 
one  hand  holding  the  manuscript  and  the  other  on  the 
back  of  a  chair,  and  spoke  as  follows  : 

"  In  view  of  the  grave  responsibility  resting  upon  me, 
you  will  excuse  my  delay  in  answering  to  the  call  with 
which  you  have  honored  me.  The  assignment  of  rank 
to  a  work  of  art — the  pointing  out,  if  I  may  so  express 
myself,  of  the  niche  in  which  it  is  to  stand— is  a  matter 
of  no  small  moment.  I  shall  try  to  do  my  work  con- 
scientiously and  to  apply  to  Mixley's  Apostrophe  the 
most  approved  rules  of — of — advanced  criticism.  We 
are  not  to  inquire  whether  a  production  awakens  lively 
emotion  within  us  or  not,  nor  to  ask  if  it  fills  our  imagi- 


LAKESIDE    PASTIMES.  23 

nations  with  vivid  pictures.  A  work  may  do  all  this  and 
yet  not  disclose  a  trace  of  artistic  skill.  It  may,  in  fact, 
have  been  produced  without  any  consciousness  of  such 
dexterity.  But  it  is  needless  for  me  to  say  to  you  that 
the  presence  or  absence  of  artistic  skill  is  all  that  we  are 
to  take  into  consideration  when  making  up  our  minds  as 
to  the  merits,  or  defects,  of  a  work  of  art.  It  is  neces- 
sary, therefore,  to  get  upon  the  intellectual  track  of  the 
author  in  order  that  we  may  detect  his  occult  meanings 
and  discover  his  reasons  for  doing  and  saying  this  and 
that.  We  must  adopt  the  method  which  has  led,  for  ex- 
ample, to  such  astonishing  discoveries  of  meaning  in  the 
second  part  of  Faust,  and  in  some  other  productions. 

"  We  now  enter  upon  our  examination  of  the  Apos- 
trophe.    At  the  very  first  line, 

"  '  O  Lake  Champlain  !  O  Champlain  Lake  ! ' 
we  find  occasion  to  meditate  :  Why  this  twofold  ex- 
clamation ?  Why  did  not  our  author  content  himself 
with  a  single  utterance  of  the  name  of  the  body  of  water 
which  he  was  honoring  with  his  attention  ?  The  answer 
is  found  among  the  principles  of  human  nature.  We  are 
so  constituted  that  when  we  are  calling  attention,  at  a 
moment  of  deep  feeling,  we  always  utter  more  than  once 
the  name  of  the  person  addressed.  When,  for  instance, 
you  are  calling  to  your  hired  man,  ardently  desiring  him 
to  feed  the  pigs  without  delay,  you  always  say  '  John  ! 
John  !  '  You  never  stop  with  a  single  utterance  of  his 
name.  And  now,  our  accomplished  author  understands 
that,  in  personifying  and  apostrophizing  a  body  of  water, 
artistic  rules  require  him  to  proceed  precisely  as  the 
principles  of  human  nature  would  cause  him  to  proceed 
if  that  liquid  expanse  were  a  rational  being. 

"  But  why  do  we  find  this  transposition  of  the  words 


24  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

'  Lake  '  and  '  Champlain  '  ?  Here  we  come  upon  a 
most  exquisite  artistic  touch.  The  true  artist  always 
keeps  in  mind  the  effect  of  his  work  on  the  spectator,  the 
hearer,  or  the  reader.  If  he  cannot  produce  the  desired 
effect,  what  is  he  here  for  ?  Well,  our  poet  remembers 
that  the  last  word  of  an  exclamation  is  the  emphatic 
word,  and  the  one  which  governs  the  mental  associations 
awakened  by  the  exclamation  as  a  whole.  Now,  he  does 
not  desire  to  set  us  to  thinking  about  Samuel  Champlain, 
who  is  said  to  have  discovered  this  body  of  water  ;  but 
he  aims  to  have  us  profoundly  impressed  with — with — er 
— with  what  I  may  call  the  lakeness  of  the  lake.  Hence 
the  exclamation  ends  with  the  words,  '  O  Champlain 
Lake ! ' 

"The  next  passage  to  which  I  will  call  attention  is  the 
second  member  of  the  first  medial  triplet — '  Which  I  am 
near.'  Now,  it  is  quite  probable  that  there  are  some 
persons  who  will  say  that  this  line  is  thrown  in  merely  to 
fill  out  the  measure  and  furnish  the  needful  rhyme.  But 
a  moment's  reflection  will  show  the  absurdity  of  such 
a  view.  Consider  how  many  other  words  there  are  which 
would  have  answered  that  purpose  as  well  as  the  word 
'  near.'  There  are  cheer,  and  fear,  and  dear,  and  queer, 
and  so  forth.  And  then  we  have  the  word  beer,  which 
would  have  suggested  itself  very  naturally  by  reason  of 
the  fact  that  the  article,  which  it  is  employed  to  designate, 
has  the  property  of  liquidity  in  common  with  the  'waters' 
of  which  the  poet  was  speaking.  No,  no,  my  friends.  A 
fine  critical  acumen  detects  two  distinct  purposes  which 
are  accomplished  by  this  one  masterly  stroke.  In  the 
first  place,  the  artist  raises  in  our  imaginations,  by  his 
facile  touch,  a  dream-like  vision  of  himself  standing  with 
outstretched  arms,  and  in  an  attitude  suggestive  of  poetic 


LAKESIDE    PASTIMES.  25 

ecstasy,  a  few  yards  away  from  the  water's  edge.  In  the 
second  place,  he  gives  us  the  assurance  that  he  is  not 
mistaken  in  regard  to  those  waters,  because  he  is  in  such 
proximity  to  them  that  he  can  see  just  what  they  are. 

"  The  last  line  of  the  stanza  would  justify  more  ex- 
tended comment  than  I  have  time  for  at  present.  Perhaps 
I  shall  prepare  a  lecture  upon  it  at  some  future  day. 
Many  remarks  might  be  made  upon  the  general 
structure  of  the  stanza,  and,  especially,  upon  the — upon 
the — the  multipedality  of  the  last  line.  The  design  of 
the  artist,  which  he  carries  out  very  successfully,  is 
manifestly  this  :  He  would  have  it  seem  to  us  that  the 
poetic  afflatus,  which  has  found  vent  only  in  short  and 
measured  jets,  has  now  accumulated  such  force  that 
there  is  no  use  in  trying  to  restrain  it  any  longer,  and 
hence,  that  the  overcharged  heart  is  allowed  to  empty 
itself  in  its  own  way.  There  are  one  or  two  words  in 
this  line  that  it  would  be  inexcusable  to  pass  over  in 
silence.  I  do  not  remember  any  previous  revelation  of 
the  artistic  possibilities  of  the  word,  '  considerable  ' ;  and 
I  am  sure  that  the  use  of  it  here  is  a  striking  illustration 
of  our  distinguished  friend's  artistic  skill.  A  poet  of  the 
second  rank  would  have  said  'tremendous  bobbery/ 
or  'prodigious  bobbery/  leaving  on  our  minds  the  im- 
pression of  exaggeration.  But  our  poet  of  the  first  rank 
makes  no  such  mistake.  He  prefers  to  win  our  confi- 
dence in  his  candor  by  the  moderation  of  his  tone  ;  and 
he  understands  that  the  highest  evidence  of  power  is  an 
act  of  self-repression.  To  this  artistic  insight  we  owe 
the  presence  of  the  word  '  considerable.'  Some  purists 
may  object  to  the  word  '  bobbery/  but  I  maintain  that 
it  is  perfectly  legitimate,  needful,  and,  in  this  place,  most 
felicitously  employed.  As  robbery  is  the  act  of  robbing, 


26  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST 

so  bobbery  is  the  act  of  bobbing  ;  and  I  ask  you  if  it  is 
possible  to  think  of  another  word  so  completely  descrip- 
tive of  what  may  be  supposed  to  take  place  in  the  heart 
of  a  poet  when  he  is  contemplating  an  aquatic  scene. 

"  When  we  come  to  the  second  stanza,  we  are  enveloped 
in  a  new  atmosphere.  We  pass  from  the  general  to  the 
specific  ;  and  you  observe  that,  while  the  general  struc- 
ture remains  the  same,  there  is  some  change  in  the  meas- 
ure. This  is  important  as  illustrating  that  growth  of 
poetic  freedom  which  has  been  going  on,  you  know,  ever 
since  the  tyranny  of  Pope  was  shaken  off.  We  can- 
not be  too  earnest  in  our  efforts  to  appreciate  that  free- 
dom. I  can  speak  feelingly  on  this  point,  because,  al- 
though I  know  that  I  am  all  wrong,  I  can  never  help 
fancying  at  first  that  a  poet's  failure  to  keep  up  the  meas- 
ure with  which  he  starts  out  is  a  confession  of  weakness. 
But  I  must  not  extend  my  remarks  on  this  topic.  I  ask 
you  to  consider  how  fully,  in  this  second  stanza,  our 
poet  demonstrates  that  his  muse  is  a  philanthropic  muse. 
He  gives  us  to  perceive  in  him  an  overpowering  tendency 
to  view  all  objects  in  their  relations  to  human  welfare. 
Thus  it  comes  about  that  we  have  this  line,  which  so 
strongly  reminds  one  of  the  great  Wordsworth  : 

1  Thou  hast  done  much  for  navigation.' 

"  Methinks  I  hear  you  softly  murmur  :  '  How  true  ! 
How  true  ! ' 

"  In  the  triplet  embodied  in  the  second  stanza  we  have 
indicated  a  just  appreciation  of  that  gustatory  enjoy- 
ment, in  allusion  to  which  all  exalted  pleasures  are 
spoken  of  under  the  poetical  figure  of  a  feast. 

"  It  remains  for  me  to  point  out  the  psychological  in- 
sight disclosed  in  the  concluding  line  of  this  remarkable 


LAKESIDE    PASTIMES.  27 

poem.  We  have  brought  to  our  view  the  inseparable 
connection  between  the  power  of  wishing  and  the  means, 
or  the  reasonable  expectation  of  the  means,  of  gratifying 
one's  wishes.  Now  that  this  reality  has  been  flashed 
upon  us  in  so  masterly  a  way,  we  apprehend  it  at  once. 
We  see  that  the  man  who  has  neither  the  means,  to  buy 
luxuries,  nor  the  reasonable  expectation  which  would 
enable  him  to  procure  them  on  tick,  is  not  qualified  by 
experience  to  form  a  conception  of  them.  But  the  pres- 
ence of  a  conception  is  an  indispensable  condition  of 
specific  desire  ;  and,  therefore,  such  a  man  is  unable  to 
wish  for  any  special  luxury.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
man  who  has  great  means,  or  the  reasonable  expectation 
of  them,  is  magnificently  equipped  for  stupendous  wish- 
ing. It  is,  therefore,  a  very  flattering  compliment  that 
is  paid  to  our  favorite  edible  when  the  poet  says  to 
Lake  Champlain  : 

"  '  Some  of  thy  fish 
Make  as  good  a  dish 
As  anybody  could  wish, 
Whatever  his  present  means  or  his  reasonable  expectation.' 

"  I  believe  that  I  have  nothing  further  to  say.  The 
doctrine  is,  that  Mixley's  Apostrophe  is  an  immense  pro- 
duction, and  you  are  in  possession  of  the  grounds  on 
which  that  doctrine  is  based." 

The  reading  of  this  discourse  can  afford  but  the  faint- 
est reflection  of  its  effect  on  those  who  heard  it.  The 
Professor's  enjoyment  of  his  own  conceits  was  so  keen 
that  there  was  a  suppressed  laughter  in  his  tones  which 
made  them  irresistibly  mirth-provoking,  while  his  en- 
deavor to  maintain  a  serious  countenance  met  with  a  suc- 
cession of  defeats  which  carried  his  performance  far 


2  8  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

beyond  the  highest  effects  ever  witnessed  on  the  comic 
stage. 

As  soon  as  something  like  order  could  be  restored  the 
Judge  asked  :  "  Does  any  one  dissent  from  the  judg- 
ment which  has  been  pronounced  ?  Are  you  all  prepared 
to  see  it  entered  on  the  records  of  the  Court  of  Criti- 
cism ?  What  says  Dr.  Ingleman  ?  " 

"  I  am  quite  willing,"  the  Doctor  replied,  "  that  the 
judgment  should  stand.  To  show  how  fully  I  acquiesce 
in  it,  I  will  assure  you  that  I  shall  never  speak  or  think  of 
Mixley's  Apostrophe  without  bearing  in  mind  the  critical 
analysis  of  it  to  which  we  have  just  listened." 

"  Mr.  Bidrop,"  said  the  Judge,  "  is  an  authority  on 
hardware,  and  this  poem  seems  to  me  to  fall  under  that 
head.  It  is  proper  that  we  should  hear  his  views." 

1  rose  and  said  :  "  I  am  prepared  to  state  the  conclu- 
sion to  which  I  have  come,  but  I  shall  assign  no  reasons 
for  it.  If  reasons  were  plenty  as  blackberries  I  would 
not  give  one.  My  conclusion  is,  that  if  you  insert  Mr. 
Mixley  among  the  poetis  epicis,  he  will  be  very  apt  to 
strike  the  sidera  with  his  sublime  capite.  But  my  object 
in  rising  is  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  we  are 
favored  with  the  presence  of  a  gentleman  newly  arrived 
from  the  city  of  Gotham,  where  literary  reputations  are 
created  and  destroyed  in  great  numbers.  He  has  trav- 
ersed many  lands,  and  cannot  have  failed  to  familiarize 
himself  with  the  principles  recognized  in  the  highest 
courts  of  criticism.  Moreover,  it  is  within  my  knowl- 
edge that  this  gentleman  has  instituted  comparisons  be- 
tween Lake  Champlain  and  many  of  the  other  celebrated 
lakes  of  the  world.  He  is,  therefore,  singularly  well 
qualified  to  pronounce  upon  the  justness  of  Mixley's 
tribute  to  this  body  of  water  whose  western  shore  is 


LAKESIDE   PASTIMES.  29 

made  illustrious  by  our  presence.  Believing  that,  in 
common  prudence,  we  should  hear  from  him  before  en- 
tering up  final  judgment,  I  now  introduce  Mr.  Ralph 
Jorman,  of  New  York." 

I  had  avoided  looking  at  Mr.  Jorman  until  I  had  fin- 
ished speaking  and  resumed  my  seat,  and  my  first  glance 
at  him  detected  a  resentful  sparkling  of  his  eyes  which 
made  me  a  little  apprehensive  as  to  the  result  of  my  im- 
pudence. But  he  soon  put  me  at  my  ease.  Rising  to 
his  feet,  he  said  :  "  I  have  often  heard  about  '  tricks  on 
travellers,'  and  have  not  been  strongly  prepossessed  in 
favor  of  such  measures.  But  there  is  something  so  re- 
freshingly innocent  in  this  young  gentleman's  proceeding, 
that  I  shall  take  no  exception  to  it." 

He  paused  and  seemed  buried  in  thought  for  a  short 
time.  When  he  resumed,  and  as  long  as  he  continued  to 
speak,  he  had  an  air  of  natural  gravity,  and  an  appear- 
ance of  candor,  which  would  have  become  a  university 
lecturer  engaged  in  serious  instruction.  Not  a  smile  ap- 
peared upon  his  face,  nor  a  quiver  in  his  voice.  As  soon 
as  his  drift  was  apprehended,  our  enjoyment  of  his  talk 
was  greatly  heightened  by  the  apparent  sincerity  with 
which  he  spoke. 

"In  every  vocation,"  he  said,  "  the  matter  of  nearest 
interest  is  the  advancement  of  those  who  are  engaged  in 
it.  The  art  of  criticism,  therefore,  exists  primarily  for  the 
benefit  of  critics.  Their  first  duty,  and  the  duty  which 
should  be  ever  present  to  their  minds,  is,  to  make  a  favor- 
able exhibition  of  themselves.  This  will  enable  them  to 
sell  their  wares  at  a  good  price,  to  make  their  dislikes 
effective,  and  to  promote  the  fortunes  of  those  to  whom 
they  take  a  fancy.  Convened,  as  we  now  are,  in  the 
capacity  of  a  court  of  criticism,  we  must  not  lose  sight  of 


3° 


THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 


these  things.  We  must  remember  that  our  final  judgment 
on  the  production  under  consideration  will  have  an  im- 
portant bearing  on  the  sentiments  with  which  we  our- 
selves shall  be  regarded.  For  this  reason,  however 
strongly  we  may  be  disposed  to  commend  our  poet,  we 
must  adopt  a  certain  tone  of  superiority  to  him.  We 
must  intimate,  in  some  way,  that  he  would  have  been  a 
gainer  by  the  proceeding,  if  he  had  consulted  us  before 
putting  the  final  touches  on  his  production.  With  this 
view,  while  I  am  not  disposed  to  detract  in  the  slightest 
measure  from  the  positive  merits  which  the  learned 
Professor  has  pointed  out,  and  while  I  hold  that  none  of 
the  points  which  he  has  made  can  be  successfully  con- 
troverted, I  am  constrained  to  propose  that  our  final 
statement  of  doctrine  concerning  Mixley's  Apostrophe 
shall  embody  an  allusion  to  a  certain  manifest  defect  in 
that  poem.  I  miss  the  mystical  element.  There  is  noth- 
ing which  sets  us  to  wondering  what  the  poet  is  driving  at, 
as  the  translator  of  '  Quid  agis  ?  '  would  say,  or  what  he 
is  '  after,'  as  Mr.  Matthew  Arnold  would  teach  us  to  ex- 
press it.  You  will  agree  that,  in  a  poem  of  fewer  posi- 
tive merits,  such  a  deficiency  would  be  scarcely  pardon- 
able. We  have  a  right  to  insist  that,  when  a  poet  takes 
the  liberty  to  come  before  us  with  his  work,  he  shall 
bring  us  something  that  we  cannot  understand,  just  as 
we  insist  that  every  man,  who  calls  himself  a  philosopher, 
shall  treat  the  human  mind  as  something  inconceivable — 
something  belonging  in  the  domain  of  the  unknowable. 
To  be  sure,  we  may  not  always  be  able  to  deny  ourselves  the 
dissipation  to  be  found  in  reading  some  of  the  old  poems 
which  flash  their  images  upon  us  so  vividly,  and  fill  our 
minds  with  such  clear-cut  thoughts,  that  we  have  only  to 
sit  still  and  float  on  the  stream  of  delight  thus  provided 


LAKESIDE    PASTIMES.  3! 

for  us.  But  we  can  give  observers,  at  such  times,  to  un- 
derstand that  we  are  smiling  at  the  author's  old-fashioned 
style  and  good-naturedly  excusing  him  from  mystifying 
us.  I  would  suggest  that  our  poet,  with  a  view  to  future 
excellence  in  his  chosen  art,  exercise  himself  assiduously 
in  covering  up  his  meaning  with  a  multitude  of  tropes,  in 
attaching  several  ingeniously  contrived  appendages  to 
each  leading  thought,  and  in  making  extensive  use  of 
those  similes  wherein  the  objects  undergoing  illustration 
are  likened  to  objects  of  which  no  one  can  form  a  dis- 
tinct conception.  But  his  chief  resource  will  be  the 
charging  of  his  intellectual  atmosphere  with  a  certain 
haziness.  To  this  end,  I  would  recommend  that  he  par- 
take largely  of  mush  and  milk  before  sitting  down  to  his 
daily  task.  If  his  working  hours  are  in  the  morning,  a 
few  bottles  of  porter  before  going  to  bed  would  be  highly 
beneficial.  But  I  must  not  detain  you  longer.  I  propose 
that  the  statement  of  doctrine,  as  enunciated  by  Professor 
Ardick,  be  so  amended  as  to  read  as  follows  :  'Mixley's 
Apostrophe  is  an  immense  production,  but  is  deficient 
in  the  mystical  element.'  " 

"I  accept  the  amendment,"  said  the  Professor,  "and 
I  desire  to  have  it  understood  that  I  should  have  used 
the  very  language  that  we  have  just  listened  to  if  I  had 
proceeded  to  make  my  criticism  exhaustive," 

"  The  case  is  closed,"  said  the  Judge.  "  The  amended 
statement  of  doctrine  will  stand  as  the  judgment  of  the 
court,  and  no  appeal  will  be  allowed." 

After  an  interval,  during  which  several  persons  sought 
introductions  to  Mr.  Jorman,  and  most  of  those  present 
congratulated  the  poet  and  the  two  principal  critics, 
Mixley  asked  :  "  Why  can't  we  have  a  little  dance  for  a 
novelty  ? " 


32  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

"  Oh,  that  would  be  splendid,"  said  Miss  Kitty,  clap- 
ping her  hands. 

"  Perhaps,"  said  Mrs.  Erdby,  "  ife  would  not  be  agree- 
able "  ;  and  she  looked  toward  the  Doctor. 

"  You  would  n't  mind  if  we  should  dance  a  little  ; 
would  you,  Dr.  Ingleman  ? "  said  Kitty,  in  a  coaxing 
tone,  as  she  went  to  him  and  laid  her  little  hand  on  his 
shoulder. 

"  Well,"  he  answered,  "  dancing  is  not  a  distinctively 
Presbyterian  exercise  ;  but  I  shall  not  object.  In  fact, 
I  rather  think  I  shall  enjoy  looking  on — that  is,  if  you  all 
belong  to  the  church,"  he  added,  with  a  hearty  laugh. 
"  Let  me  explain,"  said  he,  as  soon  as  he  could  command 
his  voice.  "  There  is  a  Judge  Adkin,  a  magnificent  old 
gentleman,  in  my  congregation,  though  he  is  not  a  mem- 
ber of  the  church.  He  was  brought  up  in  New  England, 
and  there  is  no  such  thing  as  changing  the  sentiments  i?. 
which  he  was  educated  so  far  as  dancing  and  some  other 
recreations  are  concerned.  But  the  young  church- 
members  in  our  city  have  got  in  a  great  way  of  having 
parlor  dances  at  their  social  gatherings,  though  they 
never  go  to  public  balls.  They  can't  be  made  to  see 
that  there  is  any  sin  in  the  recreation,  and  I  am  glad,  on 
the  whole,  that  they  can't,  for  their  inclination  to  it  is  so 
strong  that  it  would  be  sure  to  work  moral  injury  to 
them  if  they  believed  it  to  be  sinful.  Well,  last  winter, 
the  judge's  daughter,  a  very  lovable  young  lady,  was 
going  to  a  party  at  the  home  of  one  of  her  most  intimate 
friends.  She  told  her  father  that  there  would  be  some 
dancing  in  the  course  of  fhe  evening,  and  asked  his  per- 
mission to  take  part  in  it.  He  refused  peremptorily, 
although  he  is,  in  general,  one  of  the  most  indulgent 
parents  in  the  world.  •  But  what  shall  I  say  when  they 


LAKESIDE    PASTIMES.  33 

urge  me  ? '  she  asked  ;  '  What  excuse  can  I  give  ?  '  '  Why,' 
said  the  judge,  raising  both  hands,  '  tell  them,  my  dear, 
that  you  don't  belong'to  the  church.'  " 

Mrs.  Erdby  furnished  the  music,  and  the  dancing  was 
continued  till  bedtime.  As  the  company  was  breaking 
up  Dr.  Ingleman  said  :  "  We  have  had  a  very  enjoyable 
evening.  It  seems  to  me  that  there  ought  to  be  a  grate- 
ful recognition  on  our  part  of  the  goodness  which  has 
made  an  endless  variety  of  innocent  pleasures  possible 
to  us,  and  that  we  ought  to  make  up  our  minds  to  behave 
ourselves  pretty  well."  It  was  necessary  for  him  to  raise 
his  voice  above  the  conversational  tone  in  order  to  gain 
attention,  and  he  evinced  some  embarrassment  as  he  was 
turning  to  leave  the  room.  Just  then  Mrs.  Erdby  slipped 
quietly  to  his  side  and  gave  him  her  hand,  with  a  hearty 
"  Good-night,  Dr.  Ingleman,"  and  with  a  countenance 
full  of  approbation. 

When  we  came  out  into  the  office,  Mr.  Jorman  asked 
me  to  light  a  cigar  and  take  a  "  little  stroll  "  with  him. 
The  proposal  was  agreeable  to  me,  and  we  were  about 
starting,  when  a  man  stepped  up  to  my  companion  and 
asked  him  if  he  was  the  gentleman  who  wanted  to  go  to 
Lake  Placid. 

"  Well,"  was  the  reply,  "  I  presume  I  am  the  man  you 
are  looking  for  ;  but  I  have  made  up  my  mind  not  to 
go  at  present.  The  fishing  here  suits  me  pretty  well." 
Then  he  said  to  me,  as  we  passed  into  the  street  :  "  I 
generally  hold  myself  at  liberty  to  do  pretty  much  as  I 
please.  I  am  an  old  bachelor,  with  no  near  relatives,  and 
no  one  to  care  where  I  go  or  when  I  come  back.  The 
old  Doctor,"  he  continued,  without  an  instant's  pause, 
"  was  going  to  get  his  religion  in  if  he  had  to  drag  it  in 
by  the  scalp.  He  is  a  grand  old  fellow — going  to  show 


34 


THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 


his  colors  all  the  time— a  born  standard-bearer.  '  Sta 
Signifer  !'" 

"  He  has  helped  you  to  the  conclusion,  '  Hie  optime 
manebimusj  "  I  said. 

"Yes,  I  suppose  he  had  something  to  do  with  my  de- 
termination to  remain  here.  But  it  is  seldom  that  we 
can  be  very  exact  in  giving  the  relative  weights  of  the 
various  influences  that  operate  on  us.  They  get  mixed 
up  in  very  surprising  ways.  See  here  ;  I  don't  make  you 
out  very  clearly  You  don't  seem  to  me  like  a  professional 
or  literary  man." 

"  I  am  a  drummer  for  a  hardware  firm." 

"Well,  there  is  nothing  in  your  general  appearance  to 
contradict  that  statement ;  but  I  have  never  figured  the 
typical  commercial  traveller  as  an  individual  apt  to  show 
familiarity  with  Horace  and  Livy." 

I  explained  that  I  was  the  son  of  a  clergyman  ;  that, 
during  my  father's  lifetime,  a  liberal  education  had  been 
contemplated  for  me,  but  that  his  death,  near  the  close 
of  my  Sophomore  year,  had  made  it  necessary  for  me  to 
leave  college  and  seek  a  situation  in  which  I  could  earn 
my  own  living  and  do  something  for  my  mother  and 
sister. 

After  a  moment's  silence,  Mr.  Jorman  said  that  such 
an  experience  as  mine  was  quite  sure  to  leave  a  mark  of 
some  kind  on  my  character.  Then  he  asked,  suddenly  : 
"  Who  is  Serena  ?  " 

I  answered,  without  hesitation  :  "  Mrs.  Erdly,  of  Bos- 
ton,— a  widow-lady." 

"  By  George  !  "  said  he,  "  your  wits  are  pretty  brisk. 
Had  she  reminded  you  of  a  character  in  one  of  Miss 
Bremer's  novels  ? " 

"  No,"  I  answered,  "  but  I  thought  of  the  character 


LAKESIDE    PASTIMES.  35 

as  soon  as  you  uttered  the  name  ;  and  only  one  applica- 
tion was  possible." 

"  She  is  like  General  Washington  in  one  respect,"  Mr. 
Jorman  remarked,  meditatively. 

"  How  is  that  ?  " 

"  Why,  you  know  his  body-servant  said  of  him,  '  He 
done  all  his  laughin'  inside.'  There  was  not  a  person 
present  to-night  who  enjoyed  the  wit  and  humor  more 
than  she  did  ;  but  I  don't  believe  her  enjoyment  found 
audible  expression  in  a  single  instance.  The  first  thing 
I  noticed  about  her — in  fact,  the  first  thing  that  strongly 
attracted  my  attention  after  I  went  into  the  room  was 
her  intellectual  alertness.  She  caught  every  point  quicker 
than  lightning,  and  apprehended  all  its  bearings.  It  is 
that  intellectual  characteristic  that  accounts  for  her  dis- 
covering the  Signifer's  embarrassment  and  the  fact  that 
he  needed  a  little  petting.  That  was  a  very  good- 
natured  thing  on  Serena's  part.  Liveliness  of  sympathy 
goes  naturally  with  intellectual  alertness.  But  there  was 
more  than  that  in  her  case.  There  is  a  great  deal  of 
lively  sympathy  that  is  not  worth  a  fig.  In  itself  it  is  a 
mere  emotion,  and  might  as  well  be  non-existent  unless 
it  is  associated  with  a  good,  reliable,  impulsive  force.  Its 
'true  yoke-fellow  '  is  an  operative  good-will,  and  the  team 
is  complete  in  Serena's  case.  I  guess,  too,  that  she  goes 
with  the  Signifer  pretty  thoroughly  in  his  religiousness. 
At  all  events,  she  wanted  him  to  understand  that  she  ap- 
proved of  his  remark,  and  there  was  no  indication  of 
insincerity  or  forced  work  in  the  expression  of  her  face." 

I  said  that  the  action  to  which  he  alluded  was  thor- 
oughly characteristic  of  Mrs.  Erdby,  and  told  him  of  her 
being  the  first  person  to  address  me  on  the  evening  of 
my  arrival. 


36  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

"  Well,"  he  said,  "  you  have  brought  out  another  de- 
sirable trait.  In  calling  your  attention  to  that  appearance 
of  the  mountains,  she  showed  a  fine  susceptibility  to  the 
beautiful  on  her  own  part.  Intellectual  alertness,  emo- 
tional vivacity,  sympathetic  liveliness,  aesthetic  suscepti- 
bility, operative  benevolence — that  is  a  good  beginning 
for  a  catalogue.  She  is  worth  studying." 

By  this  time  our  cigars  were  burnt  out,  and  we  re- 
turned to  the  hotel.  The  next  day  we  all  went  upon  a 
pic-nic  at  Tonsor's  Point,  two  miles  from  the  village. 
Some  went  in  carriages,  some  in  row-boats,  and  several 
of  us  walked.  There  was  not  much  that  was  noteworthy 
in  the  diversions  of  the  day  ;  but  a  few  of  the  incidents 
will  subserve  our  knowledge  of  the  gentleman  with  whom 
we  shall  have  most  to  do  in  the  course  of  this  story. 

There  was  fishing  for  perch  from  overhanging  rocks, 
and  there  was  trolling  for  bass  at  a  distance  from  the 
shore.  And  then  some  of  the  fish  had  to  be  cooked  for 
our  noon-day  meal  The  preparation  of  this  part  of  the 
repast  was  taken  in  charge  by  a  Mrs.  Reynolds,  a  resident 
of  the  village,  who  evinced  a  just  pride  in  her  culinary 
skill.  She  superintended  the  construction  of  the  tempo- 
rary fireplace  from  the  loose  stones  that  were  lying 
about,  and  selected  the  fragments  of  wood  with  great 
care,  saying  that  she  must  have  some  "  nice  hot  coals." 
When  most  of  us  had  finished  eating  and  risen  from  the 
ground,  Mrs.  Reynolds  laid  a  beautifully  crisp  perch  on 
the  Professor's  plate  and  said  to  him  :  "  Now,  Professor, 
I  want  you  to  eat  that  perch  and  then  to  testify  that  it  is 
the  very  best  fish  in  the  world." 

"  My  dear  madam,"  he  replied  "  it  will  be  impossible 
for  me  to  give  that  testimony.  I  am  willing  to  say  that 
it  is  one  of  the  best,  or  that  it  is  as  good  as  any  other  ; 


LAKESIDE    PASTIMES.  37 

but  if  I  should  say,  without  qualification,  that  it  is  the  < 
best  fish  in  the  world,  I  should  be  contradicting  a  pro- 
verbium  non  scriptum." 

When  this  remark  was  made  I  was  cutting  a  letter 
"  M  "  in  the  bark  of  a  white  poplar,  and  my  thoughts  be- 
came so  engrossed  that  I  observed  nothing  that  was 
taking  place,  except  that  Mixley  was  spouting  poetry, 
until  I  happened  to  turn  my  head  and  saw  Mr.  Jorman, 
with  his  arm  around  a  sapling,  laughing  convulsively. 
When  he  caught  my  glance  his  laughter  ceased  instantly, 
and  he  looked  at  me  with  wide-open  eyes  as  if  he  had  , 
suddenly  made  a  great  discovery.  Then  he  came  up  to 
me  and  laid  hold  of  my  coat-collar,  saying  :  "  Come  out 
here  and  I  will  tell  you  all  about  it."  He  conducted  me 
through  the  evergreen  shrubbery  to  a  flat  rock  over- 
hanging the  water,  and  we  sat  down.  For  two  or  three 
minutes  he  was  mechanically  picking  up  pebbles  and  / 
tossing  them  into  the  water.  Then  he  looked  me  in  the  ^ 
face,  with  a  smile  of  indescribable  sweetness,  and  began 
to  talk. 

"  I  like  to  see  a  fellow  look  at  me  as  you  did,"  he  said. 
"  It  is  a  look  that  I  have  not  seen  more  than  half  a  dozen  - 
times  in  my  whole  life  ;  and  it  always  makes  me  act  just 
as  the  Ancient  Mariner  acted  when  he  met  the  wedding-   \ 
guest.    I  know  that  I  have  got  to  tell  my  story.     You  are 
a  regular  old  knowledge-compeller.      Your  look  said,  as  , 
plainly  as  any  thing  was  ever  said  in  the  world  :     '  Now 
I  am  going  to  know  what  this  means  if  the  devil  stands  * 
at  the  door.'      Inquiring  looks  are  common  enough,  but  \ 
their  ordinary  language  is  :    'I  wish  I   knew  what  this 
means,  but  I  don't  suppose  I  can  find  out.' "     These  last 
words   were    uttered    with    a  whine   which   made  them  - 
sound  supremely  ludicrous. 


38  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

When  I  was  able  to  stop  laughing  he  continued,  in  a 
quieter  tone  :  "You  see  that  I  am  a  sort  of  psychologist. 
That  is,  the  human  mind  is  to  me  the  most  interesting 
subject  of  study  in  the  universe,  and  I  can't  restrain  my- 
self from  observing  its  operations.  I  am  not  like  the 
metaphysicians  who  trust  entirely  to  introspection,  or 
'  consciousness,'  as  they  call  it,  and  become  so  absorbed 
with  themselves  that  they  achieve  a  stupendous  ignorance 
of  their  fellowvmen.  That  is  the  absurdest  method 
imaginable.  If  you  want  to  understand  the  natures  of 
forces  you  must  watch  their  manifestations  wherever  they 
can  be  found.  Well,  some  of  the  most  observable  and 
amusing  effects  of  this  kind  come  from  the  operations  of 
the  associative  faculty.  The  philosophers  don't  find  any 
such  faculty,  though  they  have  a  great  deal  to  say  about 
association  as  an  intellectual  process.  It  is  true  that  this 
kind  of  mental  activity  seems  to  go  on  automatically 
oftener  than  otherwise  ;  and  yet  we  all  know  that  we 
have  a  power  by  which  we  can  make  it  subservient  to 
our  purposes.  I  say  it  is  utter  nonsense  to  deny  the 
name  of  '  faculty  '  to  that  provision  in  our  minds  by 
reason  of  which  these  associations  take  place.  Now 
we  '11  come  to  what  I  was  laughing  at.  You  heard  the 
Professor's  remark  about  t\\Q proverbium  non  scriptum.  It 
was  a  pretty  good  thing,  and  everybody  understood  that 
he  referred  to  the  old  saying,  '  There  are  as  good  fish  in 
the  sea  as  ever  were  caught.'  Now  look  at  the  different 
trains  that  started  out  from  the  various  mental  depots 
around.  The  Signifer  was  the  first  to  speak.  He  com- 
plimented the  Professor  on  the  sageness  of  his  obser- 
vation by  quoting  :  '  Doth  not  wisdom  cry,  and  under- 
standing put  forth  her  voice  ? '  Being  a  clergyman,  it 
was  natural  that  the  word  '  proverbium  '  should  set  him 


LAKESIDE   PASTIMES.  39 

to  thinking  about  the  Proverbs  of  Solomon  ;  and  his 
quick  wit  seized  on  the  passage  most  pertinent  to  the 
occasion.  Then  Mixley  took  in  the  old  saying — theflro- 
verbium — to  which  the  Professor  had  alluded,  and  the 
word  '  sea  '  popped  into  the  leadership.  Hence,  he  be- 
gan to  spout : 

"  '  And  the  sheen  of  their  spears  was  like  stars  on  the  sea.' 

Little  Saucy-nose  made  the  most  common  application 
of  the  proverb,  and  asked  her  aunt  if  she  believed 
Phil  Adsley  was  going  to  marry  Josie  Enkman.  It  is 
probable  that  the  little  maiden  had  entertained  some 
thoughts  of  her  own  as  to  Phil's  future  relations.  But 
the  best  thing  of  all  was  said  by  that  old  money-making 
Judge.  He  said  to  the  merchant  who  was  sitting  by 
him  ;  '  Delaware  and  Lackawanna  is  having  quite  a 
boom.'  Now,  how  do  you  suppose  that  remark  was 
suggested  ? " 

I  professed  my  inability  to  find  an  answer. 

"  Why,  the  phrase  ' proverbium  non  scriptum  '  was  sure 
to  remind  a  lawyer  of  the  lex  non  scripta.  Then  it  was 
the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world  for  him  to  think  of 
the  sources  of  the  English  Common  Law  ;  and  no  old 
lawyer  does  that  without  having  Coke  on  Littleton  occur 
to  his  mind.  But  an  ardent  money-maker  is  switched 
off  by  the  first  word  that  connects  itself  with  any  thing 
he  has  dwelt  on  as  a  source  of  profit,  and  it  is  but  half  a 
step  from  '  Coke  '  to  coal.  Being  in  the  habit  of  turning 
over  in  his  mind  all  the  leading  modes  of  investment,  it 
is  impossible  for  him  to  think  of  coal  without  having 
thoughts  also  of  the  railroad  companies  that  make  a 
large  part  of  their  profits  from  the  mining  and  transpor- 
tation of  that  article.  Now,  you  know  the  Delaware  and 


40  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

Lackawanna  is  one  of  the  principal  roads  of  that  class, 
and  the  recent  important  advance  in  the  shares  of  that 
company  is  of  interest  enough  to  the  Judge  to  become  a 
subject  of  conversation.  That  is  the  way  the  thing  goes. 
The  train  moves  along  silently  and  turns  and  twists  this 
way  and  that,  without  a  jolt,  till  it  fetches  up  against  a 
subject  that  a  fellow  cares  something  about.  Then  there 
is  apt  to  be  a  little  talking  done.  I  tell  you  there  is  a 
great  deal  of  fun  in  watching  such  processes,  and  some- 
times you  can  set  them  going  with  excellent  results.  If 
you  are  acquainted  with  a  man's  intellectual  habits,  and 
know  what  are  the  matters  of  chief  interest  to  him,  you 
can  set  him  talking  on  a  subject  that  you  don't  like  to 
bring 'up  by  alluding  to  something  that  seems  to  be  a 
thousand  miles  away  from  it.  On  the  other  hand,  you 
can  learn  a  great  deal  about  a  man's  habitual  way  of 
thinking  and  his  leading  desires  by  observing  the  turns 
that  various  remarks  and  incidents  cause  his  thoughts  to 
take.  Now.  Mr.  Knowledge-compeller,  will  you  tell  me 
honestly  what  you  were  thinking  about  just  before  you 
caught  me  laughing  so  idiotically  ?  " 

I  hesitated,  and  I  suppose  my  face  reddened  a  little, 
but  I  finally  answered  that  I  was  saying  to  myself : 
"Your  old  proverbium  won't  be  true  any  longer  if  I  can 
succeed  in  catching  Martha  Orlington." 

"  Hello  !  "  he  exclaimed,  "  you  are  in  for  it,  are  you  ? 
Well,  that  is  all  right.  I  wish  we  could  find  out  what 
turn  Serena's  thoughts  were  taking." 

"  Suppose  we  try,"  I  suggested. 

"  Well,"  he  answered  after  a  pause,  "  I  am  willing  to 
have  you  make  the  attempt  if  you  will  agree  to  desist  on 
the  first  indication  of  an  indisposition  to  favor  us  with 
the  revelation.  You  must  n't  carry  your  knowledge- 


LAKESIDE    PASTIMES.  41 

compelling  too  far  in  this  case.  We  don't  want  to  worm 
out  any  thing  that  she  would  prefer  to  keep  to  herself." 

I  gave  the  desired  promise,  and  we  happened  to  find 
Mrs.  Erdby  unoccupied. 

" We  have  been  having  a  little  talk,"  I  said,  "about 
the  workings  of  different  minds,  and  want  you  to  help 
us.  I  will  explain  myself  fully  pretty  soon.  You  saw 
Mr.  Jorman  come  and  take  me  aside  ;  did  you  ? " 

"  I  believe  I  noticed  some  such  circumstance,"  she 
replied,  with  a  look  of  keen  amusement. 

"Well,  have  you  any  objection  to  telling  us  what  you 
were  thinking  about  just  before  that  incident  occurred  ?  " 

She  reflected  a  moment  and  then  said:  "  Oh,  I  remember 
now.  I  was  thinking  about  a  trip  to  Chicago  that  I  took 
last  summer." 

"Did  you  come  near  missing  your  train?"  Jorman 
asked,  somewhat  excitedly. 

"No  ;  I  had  some  time  to  wait." 

"  Are  you  sure  that  the  word  'caught'  was  not  in  your 
mind  just  before  you  thought  of  the  journey  ?  " 

She  gave  him  a  startled  look,  and  answered  :  "  That 
word  was  in  my  mind.  I  had  a  picture  there,  too,  of  a 
young  friend  of  ours  who  had  just  come  in  from  the  ball- 
ground,  holding  his  right  hand  in  his  left  and  saying  that 
he  had  caught  a  flyer  and  broken  his  thumb." 

"  Yes,"  said  Jorman,  triumphantly,"  and  you  travelled  to 
Chicago  on  that  fast  train  which  is  called  '  The  Flyer  ! '  ' 

"  That  is  true,"  she  replied  ;  and  we  then  gave  her  a 
full  account  of  the  conversation  we  had  been  having. 

In  the  course  of  the  afternoon,  Mixley  and  I  had  a  boat- 
race,  and  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  beat  him  by  a  few 
lengths.  As  I  stepped  out  of  the  boat,  Jorman  said  to  me: 

"  You  are  rather  an  athletic  fellow.  How  much  do 
you  weigh  ?  " 


42  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

"  A  hundred  and  sixty-three,"  I  answered. 

"Five  feet  ten  ?  " — measuring  my  height  with  his  eyes. 

"  Five  feet  ten  and  a  quarter  in  my  stockings." 

"Well,"  he  said  in  a  satisfied  tone,  "  I  like  a  well  put- 
up  '  biped  without  feathers,' — especially,  when  he  is  a 
knowledge-compeller." 

When  the  party  was  about  to  break  up,  Jorman 
grasped  my  shoulder  and  whispered  "  Look  at  Serena." 

Mrs.  Erdby  was  standing  on  a  low  flat  rock,  which  ex- 
tended into  the  water  and  commanded  a  view  unob- 
structed by  any  thing  on  the  shore,  and  was  looking 
northward.  The  sun  had  declined  so  far  that  the  greater 
part  of  the  bay  was  covered  by  the  shadows  of  the  sur- 
rounding hills,  while  the  eastern  side  of  it  had  a  glisten- 
ing border.  The  sunlit  crown  of  the  rocky  hill  at  the 
northeastern  extremity  of  the  bay  ;  the  shaded  cliffs  with 
their  hemlock  sentinels  ;  the  manifold  hues,  distributed 
in  belts  and  patches  on  the  water's  surface,  by  sunlight 
and  shadow  and  reflected  clouds,  with  the  subdued  glory 
on  the  summits  of  the  distant  mountains,  made  up  a 
wonderful  prospect.  I  shall  not  attempt  to  describe  the 
expression  of  Mrs.  Erdby's  countenance.  She  was  called 
by  her  niece  to  take  her  place  in  the  carriage,  and  Mr. 
Jorman  and  I  started  on  our  walk  in  silence.  His  first 
remark  was  : 

"  There  is  no  doubt  about  her  being  religious.  It  is  true 
that  complacency  in  material  beauty  and  love  of  supreme 
goodness  have  a  common  fountain-head  in  our  spiritual 
constitution.  Beauty  is  simply  one  of  the  forms,  or 
modes,  of  goodness.  But  complacency  in  material 
beauty  alone  never  brought  just  that  look  upon  a  human 
face.  She  was  among  the  supernal  splendors,  as  Carlyle 
would  say." 


CHAPTER  III. 

A    SUNDAY    WITH    MR.    JORMAN. 

HPHE  intimacy  between  Mr.  Jorman  and  myself  grew 
•*•  so  rapidly  that  we  soon  became  nearly  inseparable. 
His  conversation  invariably  entertained  me,  and  was 
often  highly  instructive  ;  and  it  was  natural  that  he 
should  enjoy  my  enjoyment  of  it.  His  habitual  style 
was  somewhat  rattling,  occasionally  verging  on  slang, 
with  great  animation  of  voice  and  gesture.  But  he  had 
many  whimsical  moods  :  at  one  time  he  would  assume 
the  tone  of  a  precise  pedant  and,  at  another,  would  act 
to  perfection  the  part  of  a  grave  lecturer  dealing  in  pom- 
pous circumlocutions.  As  the  reader  has  observed,  he 
was  much  addicted  to  the  application  of  nicknames, 
though  he  did  not  take  that  liberty  to  the  face  of  any 
member  of  our  circle,  except  myself.  After  the  picnic,  he 
always  spoke  to  me  of  the  Professor  as  "  Old  Delicious," 
and  called  the  Judge,  "  Delaware  and  Lackawanna  "  at 
first,  but  soon  abbreviated  that  name  to  "  D.  and  L."  My 
name  was  '*  Knowledge-compeller  "  for  a  day  or  two  ; 
then,  for  a  while,  it  was  "  Nol-comp,"  and  it  finally  took 
the  form  of  "  Nolly,"  which  it  has  retained  ever  since. 
Jorman's  uniform  habit  of  addressing  me  and  speaking 
of  me  by  that  name  has  had  some  amusing  results.  I 
have  received  letters  addressed  to  "  Mr.  Oliver  Bidrop," 
and  have  been  so  introduced  to  persons  with  whom  no 
one  would  think  of  jesting.  A  few  minutes  ago,  a  young 

43 


44  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

matron  extended  toward  me  a  soft  palm,  with  a  diminu- 
tive hand  lying  in  it,  and  said  :  "  Nolly  dear,  did  you 
ever  see  any  thing  so  pretty  as  baby's  little  tapering 
fingers  ? " 

On  Sunday  morning,  after  breakfast,  Dr.  Ingleman 
conducted  devotions  in  the  parlor.  He  read  the  nine- 
tieth psalm,  and  the  words,  "  Let  the  beauty  of  the  Lord 
our  God  be  upon  us,"  became  the  keynote  of  his  prayer. 
With  simple  language,  which  came  of  itself  from  his 
trustful,  loving  heart,  he  took  us  into  the  presence-cham- 
ber of  the  Majesty  on  High,  and  disclosed  to  us,  so  far 
as  we  were  fitted  to  see  it,  the  ineffable  loveliness  of  the 
Divine  Nature.  Then  the  possibility  of  our  being  par- 
takers of  that  Nature  was  a  soul-filling  reality  to  him, 
and,  in  tones  demonstrative  of  the  full  assurance  of  faith, 
he  besought  that  boon  for  himself,  and  for  us,  and  for 
many  classes  of  mankind  whom  his  far-reaching  love 
brought  up  for  intercession. 

I  soon  had  occasion  to  see  how  suddenly  a  deep  re- 
ligious impression  can  be  broken  up.  Mr.  Jorman  and 
I  strolled  away  from  the  house  in  silence,  but  had  not 
proceeded  far  before  he  remarked,  musingly  : 

"  When  a  man  really  seems  to  himself  to  be  holding 
converse  with  Deity,  and  to  be  preferring  requests  which 
are  sure  to  be  granted,  there  is  something  beautiful  about 
the  illusion  after  all." 

"  Illusion  !  "  I  shouted,  swinging  my  rigid  fist.  "  It  is 
the  perfect  knowledge  of  a  glorious  reality." 

He  eyed  me  a  moment,  with  a  mixture  of  amusement 
and  scrutiny  in  his  expression,  and  then  said  :  •* 

"  Ah,  I  see  how  it  is.  But  there  is  no  use  in  getting 
mad  if  you  are  ever  so  pious." 

The  idea  of  piety,  coming  in  such  sudden  collision 


A    SUNDAY    WITH    MR.    JORMAN.  45 

with  the  consciousness  of  my  hot  wrath,  set  me  off  in  a 
fit  of  uncontrollable  laughter. 

"Well,  well,"  said  my  friend,  "you  are  a  queer  bird, 
anyway.  I  shall  have  to  cut  you  up  pretty  fine  before 
I  find  out  all  there  is  in  you.  Still,"  he  added,  after  re- 
flecting two  or  three  minutes,  "  it  is  not  a  very  compli- 
cated case.  The  deep  feeling  which  the  Signifer's  prayer 
excited  in  you  made  my  thoughtless  remark  all  the  more 
painful,  and  the  reaction  was  correspondingly  violent. 
That  's  all  there  is  about  sudden  anger,  anyhow  :  it  is 
the_  heart's  reaction  against  sudden  pain.  And,  then, 
hearty  laughter  springs  from  a  sudden  and  vivid  percep- 
tion of  incongruity  oftener  than  from  any  other  source." 

We  walked  into  a  woodland  pasture  and  threw  our- 
selves upon  the  grass  in  the  shade  of  a  spreading  maple. 
Looking  in  my  face  with  kindly  interest,  Mr.  Jorman 
said  : 

"  You  have  been  religious  all  your  life,  I  suppose, 
being  a  clergyman's  son  ?  " 

"  No,"  I  replied,  "  I  had  to  have  my  period  of  smart- 
ness, when  I  knew  more  than  all  the  greatest  scholars  in 
the  world.  There  is  the  epoch-making  document  so  far 
as  my  life  is  concerned." 

I  handed  him,  from  a  thin  pocket-book,  a  paper  which 
I  had  carried  on  my  person  constantly  during  the  pre- 
ceding six  years.  It  was  a  letter  written  by  my  father 
near  the  close  of  my  Freshman  year  in  Brown  University, 
and  the  principal  part  of  it  was  as  follows  : 

"  I  have  so  many  signs  of  failing  health  that  I  think 
there  ought  to  be  no  longer  delay  in  my  saying  a  few 
words  to  you  as  to  your  personal  attitude  in  the  matter 
of  religion.  I  take  it  for  granted  that,  like  all  other 
young  men  whose  faculties  are  made  active  by  study, 


46  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

and  who  have  not  committed  themselves  on  this  subject, 
you  are  in  a  vacillating  state  of  mind  in  regard  to  the 
claims  of  Christianity.  Objections,  which  seem  very 
plausible,  occur  to  you  from  time  to  time.  Do  not  make 
the  mistake  of  supposing  that  the  same  objections  have 
not  presented  themselves  to  the  multitudes  of  learned 
men  who  have  finally  given  in  their  adhesion  to  Chris- 
tianity. But  let  me  ask  you  if  you  see  no  objections 
on  the  other  side — no  objections  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  claims  of  Christianity  are  false.  Remember  that  this 
is  not  simply  nor  mainly  a  matter  of  speculation.  It  is 
essentially  a  practical  matter  and  one  in  regard  to  which 
the  avoidance  of  action  is  impossible.  Every  day  of 
your  life  you  must  stand  at  the  bar  of  your  own  con- 
science as  an  accepter  or  as  a  rejecter  of  Christianity. 
Now,  in  view  of  what  that  system  of  doctrines  and  pre- 
cepts has  done  for  the  world,  and  of  the  support  it  has 
received  from  the  wisest  and  best,  does  it  not  come  be- 
fore you  with  what  the  lawyers  would  call  a  prima  facie 
case  ?  One  thought  more.  You  cannot  doubt  that  you 
ought  to  be  a  good  and  useful  man.  Can  you  doubt  that 
Christianity,  if  heartily  espoused,  would  help  you  to  the 
realization  of  that  end  ?  " 

As  Jorman  finished  reading  the  letter,  and  handed  it 
back  to  me,  I  said  : 

"  A  week  after  I  received  that  communication  I  wrote 
to  my  father  for  permission  to  come  home  and  be  bap- 
tized by  him  ;  and  I  can  never  be  glad  enough  that  I 
gave  him  that  comfort.  He  died  in  less  than  a  year." 

"  Well,"  said  my  friend,  "  I  shall  not  try  to  unsettle 
your  faith,  though  I  confess  that  I  had  counted  on  your 
intellectual  sympathy  with  me  in  connection  with  these 
matters." 


A    SUNDAY    WITH    MR.    JORMAN.  47 

I  responded  :  "  Any  attempt  to  shake  my  faith  would 
be  utterly  futile.  The  subject  has  not  been  debatable 
with  me  since  I  took  my  position  on  it  ;  and  it  never  will 
be  debatable  with  me.  The  clearing  up  of  speculative 
difficulties  is  out  of  my  line,  and  I  am  not  going  to  be 
bothered  with  them.  I  know  it  is  best  for  me,  and  best 
for  all  who  are  to  be  affected  by  my  life,  that  I  should 
treat  Jesus  Christ  as  my  Master,  and  that  is  just  what  I 
am  going  to  do." 

"  If  you  stick  to  that  position,"  was  the  reply,  "  it  is 
pretty  certain  that  you  will  never  be  a  scamp.  There  is 
some  comfort  in  that, — a  great  deal  of  comfort,  for  I  tell 
you  the  tendency  to  scampery  in  this  race  of  ours  is 
tremendous." 

Our  sermon,  that  morning,  was  delivered  by  an  accom- 
plished young  preacher  from  the  city.  He  was  fine- 
looking,  and  had  a  musical  voice,  and  his  manner  was 
agreeable  in  every  respect.  His  text  was  :  "  The  heart 
is  deceitful  above  all  things  and  desperately  wicked." 
The  body  of  the  discourse  was  made  up  of  historical 
illustrations.  The  great  sinners  of  the  ages,  were  made  to 
pass  before  us  in  a  series  of  very  effective  word-paint- 
ings, and  we  were  told  that  their  wickedness  was  simply 
the  outgrowth  of  the  same  depravity  that  we  had  all  in- 
herited. Then  followed  a  perfunctory  statement,  in  the 
stereotyped  phraseology,  of  the  necessity  of  procuring 
forgiveness  through  faith  in  Christ. 

"  That  won't  do,"  said  Jorman,  as  we  walked  toward 
the  hotel. 

"  No,"  said  I,  "  not  by  a  long  shot." 

In  the  afternoon  we  walked  to  the  top  of  the  highest 
hill  at  the  north  of  the  village.  There  was  very  little 
talk  between  us  till  Jorman  said  abruptly  : 


48  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

"  I  will  tell  you  all  about  the  human  heart  if  you  will 
give  me  a  quarter  of  a  dollar." 

I  handed  him  a  twenty-five-cent  piece  from  my  vest 
pocket,  struck  a  match  on  the  sole  of  my  boot,  lit  a 
cigar,  adjusted  my  back  to  the  trunk  of  a  white  birch, 
and  told  him  to  "  fire  away."  He  put  up  the  coin  very 
carefully,  restored  his  porte-monnaie  to  his  pocket,  and 
said,  in  solemn  tones  : 

"  Now  that  my  mind  is  at  ease  concerning  the  means 
wherewith  to  procure  a  piece  of  ginger-bread  and  a  bot- 
tle of  spruce  beer,  I  can  enter  the  domain  of  metaphysics 
with  a  great  deal  of  equanimity  and  a  large  quantity  of 
undisturbedness." 

Then  he  seated  himself  on  a  stone,  about  six  feet  in 
front  of  me,  and  discoursed  as  follows  : 

"  Be  it  known  unto  you,  O  Nolly,  that,  in  considera- 
tion of  your  being  a  knowledge-compeller,  and  in  further 
consideration  of  twenty-five  cents,  to  me  in  hand  paid, 
the  receipt  whereof  is  hereby  acknowledged,  you  are 
selected  and  appointed  as  the  second  member  of  the  hu- 
man family  to  take  a  square  look  at  the  central  forces  of 
that  interesting  creature  denominated  Man.  When  I 
speak  of  man,  I  mean  the  little  fellow  himself,  without 
reference  to  his  corporeal  habitation.  In  my  vocabulary, 
Man,  Mind,  and  Soul  are  interchangeable  names. 

"  Do  you  ask  why  this  little  fellow's  heart  has  remained 
invisible  through  all  the  ages  ?  I  answer  that  the  ex- 
planation is  to  be  found  in  the  universal  lack  of  self-con- 
ceit. The  philosophers  of  old,  very  excellent  old  duffers 
in  their  way — magnificent  instructors  in  many  things — 
nailed  up  a  set  of  shutters  before  the  human  heart,  and 
all  the  philosophers  of  succeeding  generations  have  dis- 
trusted their  ability  to  take  those  shutters  down,  and 


A    SUNDAY    WITH    MR.    JORMAN.  49 

have  contented  themselves  with  boring  gimlet  holes  in 
them.  Now,  a  gimlet  hole  is  a  very  good  orifice  for  the 
inspection  of  a  single  point,  but  it  is  an  inadequate  pro- 
vision for  a  comprehensive  survey  of  interacting  forces. 
The  practice  of  looking  through  gimlet-holes  has  caused 
the  philosophers  to  be  terribly  afraid  that  their  disciples 
would  think  of  man  as  an  object  of  possible  conception. 
So  they  tell  us,  over  and  over  again,  that  he  is  distin- 
guished from  matter  by  being  unextended,  which  means, 
if  it  means  any  thing,  that  he  is  nowhere.  The  great 
Scotchman  says  that  he  '  is  not  an  organism,'  that  he 
is  '  an  intelligence  served  by  organs.'  There  is  a  lu- 
minous description  for  you.  Of  course  you  know  just 
how  an  Intelligence  looks.  You  can  conceive  one  just  as 
distinctly  as  you  can  conceive  a  Benevolence  or  an  Af- 
fectionateness. 

"  But  the  big  joke  on  the  Christian  philosophers  is  the 
fact  that,  while  they  have  been  peeping  through  their  lit- 
tle holes  in  the  shutters  put  up  by  Plato  and  the  rest,  the 
true  theory  of  the  human  soul  has  been  standing  out,  all 
ablaze,  for  nearly  two  thousand  years  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. Throughout  these  writings  the  soul  is  treated  as 
a  definitively  organized  being,  with  such  an  organic 
structure  as  is  indispensable  to  the  processes  of  life  ;  and 
that  is  the  exact  truth  about  the  human  soul.  If  I  were 
going  to  take  a  retainer  in  behalf  of  the  orthodox  doc- 
trine of  inspiration,  I  should  base  my  principal  argu- 
ment on  the  fact  that  the  men  called  '  inspired  writers ' 
anticipated  the  latest  results  of  psychological  research 
by  eighteen  centuries.  But  if  I  talk  much  longer  on 
this  point  I  shall  get  mad  and  fail  to  show  you  the  hu- 
man heart  after  all. 

"  Let  us  take  down  the  shutters,  and  I  will  point  out  to 


50  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

you  five  distinct  powers,  so  organized  that  they  are  capable 
of  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  different  interactions. 
We  don't  know  any  thing  about  the  substance  in  which 
these  powers  have  their  seat  ;  it  is  enough  to  know  that 
something  holds  them  together.  The  first  of  them  is  the 
power  to  take  impressions  from  the  outside  world  through 
the  senses  and  the  nervous  system.  When  the  taking  of 
impressions  is  intentional,  the  organs  of  sense  and  the 
nerves  are  made  use  of,  just  as  we  make  use  of  specta- 
cles and  ear-trumpets.  Then  we  have  the  intellectual 
power,  by  which  we  come  into  possession  of  knowledge 
through  many  different  processes.  This  is  the  only  one 
of  the  powers  that  the  philosophers  have  made  much 
headway  in  examining,  and  they  have  a  great  deal  to 
learn  about  it  yet.  The  other  three  powers  belong  to  the 
heart.  We  've  got  here  at  last. 

"  When  I  think  of  the  way  in  which  the  analytical  pro- 
cess has  been  applied  in  this  department  of  psychology, 
'  I  think,  also,  of  the  dissection  of  a  fly  with  a  meat-axe. 
A  very  common  thing  is  to  class  all  the  movements  of 
the  soul,  which  are  not  intellectual,  under  the  head  of 
'Feelings,'  and  nobody  can  find  out  whether  they  are  un- 
derstood to  spring  from  one  original  power  or  from  a 
dozen  of  them.  Now,  look  here.  Suppose  you  tell  me 
something  that  tickles  me  or  troubles  me — something 
that  makes  me  grin  or  grunt.  The  power  to  experience 
that  pleasant  or  unpleasant  emotion,  on  account  of  the 
thought  that  you  have  put  into  my  mind,  is  one  thing, 
is  n't  it  ?  Well,  suppose  you  hold  up  a  nice,  velvety, 
tan-colored  cigar,  and  I  want  it  it  so  badly  that  I  go  for 
it.  The  power  to  experience  that  impulse  to  snatch, 
possess,  and  enjoy  is  another  thing,  is  n't  it  ?  Sixthly 
and  lastly,  suppose  that  the  thoughts  which  you  put  into 


A    SUNDAY    WITH    MR.    JORMAN.  51 

my  mind  please  or  displease  me  so  much  that  I  either 
caress  you  or  cuff  you.  Is  n't  the  power  to  experience 
that  impulse  to  caress  or  cuff  still  another  thing  ?  Now, 
if  the  mere  experiencing  of  pleasure  or  pain  is  different 
from  an  impulse  to  do  something,  then,  of  course,  the 
first  power  that  I  pointed  out  stands  by  itself.  Well, 
taking  differs  from  giving,  doaft  it  ?  Grasping  is  not  the 
same  as  bestowing,  is  it  ?  Don't  you  see  that  the  power 
to  which  one  of  the  impulses  I  spoke  of  is  due,  and  the 
power  in  which  the  other  originates,  are  as  distinct  from 
each  other  as  bread  and  brandy  ?  What  superlative  non- 
sense it  is  to  jumble  all  these  internal  experiences 
together,  and  talk  of  them  as  if  they  all  sprang  from  the 
same  source  and  were  governed  by  the  same  laws. 

"  You  see  now  that  there  are  provisions  in  the  heart  for 
experiences  of  three  distinct  classes.  Those  of  the  first 
class  are  emotions,  those  of  the  second  are  desires,  and  •' 
those  of  the  third  are  affections.  You  understand,  too, 
— everybody  understands,  or,  at  least,  everybody  acts  on 
the  assumption, — that  the  most  important  part  of  the 
heart's  work  is  accomplished  through  the  interaction  of 
the  intellectual  power  and  the  emotional  power.  What 
do  you  do  when  you  want  to  stir  up  a  deep  feeling  in 
my  heart  ?  Why,  you  try  to  get  my  intellectual  power 
occupied  with  certain  thoughts  and  conceptions,  and  you 
take  it  for  granted  that  the  activity  of  my  emotional 
power  will  follow  as  a  matter  of  course.  Nobody  ever 
dreams  of  proceeding  in  any  other  way.  Suppose  you 
wish  to  quicken  the  activity  of  my  intellect  on  some  sub- 
ject that  interests  you  deeply.  In  that  case  you  make 
an  additional  assumption  :  you  assume  not  only  that  my 
intellectual  power  will  act  on  my  emotional  power,  but 
that  the  latter  will  react  on  the  former.  You  try  to  give 


52  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

me  the  thoughts  which  seem  to  you  best  calculated  to 
awaken  a  feeling  of  interest,  and  you  take  it  for  granted 
that,  if  the  desired  emotions  can  be  excited,  my  intellec- 
tual power  will  be  set  at  work  more  earnestly.  Now  let 
us  trace  this  matter  of  interaction  a  little  further,  and 
bring  in  some  new  factors.  You  want  to  make  me  shake 
off  my  stupidity  and  enjoy  this  beautiful  landscape. 
What  do  you  do  ?  You  exclaim  :  '  Just  look  at  that 
sheet  of  water,  those  high  overhanging  rocks,  that  fringe 
of  trees  on  the  other  shore,  those  wheat-fields,  corn-fields* 
meadows,  pastures,  and  patches  of  forest  beyond  ! ' 
Now  what  takes  place  ?  You  have  given  me  the  intel- 
lectual apprehension  of  something  worth  looking  at  ;  my 
emotional  power  is  stirred  ;  at  the  same  moment  my  de- 
siring power  comes  into  action  with  an  impulse  to  grasp 
the  pleasure  of  which  you  have  given  me  the  idea  ;  my 
intellectual  power  takes  the  attitude  of  attention  ;  my 
power  to  take  impressions  from  the  material  world  is 
brought  into  exercise,  and  is  caused  to  make  use  of  those 
optical  instruments  of  which  nature  has  given  it  pro- 
visional control.  Here  we  have  four  of  our  five  powers 
at  work.  Indeed,  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  fifth — 
the  affectional  power — likewise  manifests  its  presence. 
If  my  heart  is  not  too  tough  it  is  pretty  sure  to  react  tow- 
ard the  beauty  which  is  gladdening  me,  in  an  impulse  to 
call  down  blessings  upon  the  landscape. 

"  Now  Nolly,  you  may  talk  about  the  wonderful  things 
to  be  found  in  the  material  universe  ;  but  I  tell  you  that 
there  is  nothing  that  can  begin  to  compare  with  the 
processes  which  make  up  the  life  of  the  human  soul.  In 
all  waking  hours  such  processes  are  going  on  as  con- 
stantly as  the  beating  of  the  heart  and  the  expansion  and 
contraction  of  the  lungs.  Yet  what  an  amazing  differ- 


A    SUNDAY    WITH    MR.    JORMAN.  53 

ence  there  is  between  the  life  of  the  body  and  the  life  of 
the  soul  !  The  vital  processes  of  the  body  are,  to  all  in- 
tents and  purposes,  the  same  in  all  men.  But  the  vital 
processes  of  some  human  souls  differ  from  those  of  other 
human  souls  a  thousand  times  more  than  the  lowest 
member  of  the  animal  kingdom  differs  from  the  highest 
member  of  it.  This  is  true,  although  every  human  soul 
possesses  the  five,  and  only  the  five,  original  powers 
which  I  have  pointed  out.  Indeed,  the  identity  of 
structure  extends  very  much  farther.  The  power  to 
take  impressions  from  the  material  world  branches  out 
in  the  same  way  in  all  men,  so  that  they  are  capable  of 
no  more  and  no  less  than  the  same  classes  of  impressions. 
The  intellectual  power  embraces  the  capability  of  several 
special  modes  of  activity,  which  are  the  same  in  all  men, 
and  for  which  all  men  are  very  properly  said  to  have 
special  faculties.  The  emotional  power  embodies  several 
distinct  susceptibilities,  which  are  common  to  the  whole 
race.  As  a  consequence  of  this,  all  human  hearts  are 
characterized  by  several  primary  desires,  which  are  the 
same  in  all.  Finally,  all  normally  constituted  human 
beings  have  a  number  of  affections  in  common.  And 
yet  we  have  saints  and  scoundrels,  sages  and  simpletons, 
heroes  and  humbugs." 

He  paused  at  this  point,  and  I  said :  "  I  don't  see  how 
you  can  maintain  that  we  have  no  original  powers  except 
those  you  have  named.  Where  is  the  conscience  ?  and 
where  is  the  will  ?  " 

"  My  dear  fellow,"  he  answered,  "  I  knew  you  would 
ask  those  questions,  and  I  will  not  shock  you  by  saying, 
as  I  have  said  a  great  many  times,  that  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  either  conscience  or  will.  They  are  both  of 
them  stupendous  facts,  and  we  could  n't  get  along  very 


54  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

well  without  the  names  which  are  applied  to  them.  Still 
we  are  using  figurative  language  when  we  speak  of  either 
the  conscience  or  the  will  as  a  single  power  producing, 
by  itself,  all  the  effects  which  we  ascribe  to  it.  We  need 
only  to  make  an  accurate  analysis  of  the  powers  I  have 
described,  and  especially  of  the  three  which  belong  to 
the  heart,  in  order  to  see  that  all  these  effects — moral 
sentiments,  volitions,  choices,  and  purposes — are  pro- 
duced inevitably  by  the  reciprocal  operations  of  those 
powers.  Necessarily  coming  into  being  in  every  normally 
constituted  human  soul,  they  are  characteristic  of  man 
just  as  completely  as  they  would  be  if  they  proceeded 
immediately  from  two  original  powers." 

"I  should  like  to  have  you  show  me,"  I  said,  "how 
what  I  call  my  conscience  can  be  originated  in  that 
way." 

"  That,"  he  replied,  "  would  take  a  great  deal  more 
time  than  the  sinking  sun  will  dish  out  to  us  on  this  oc- 
casion. What  you  call  your  conscience  is  a  good-sized 
bundle  of  moral  sentiments,  no  two  of  which  get  into  ex- 
istence in  precisely  the  same  way.  Each  one  of  them 
involves  the  activity  of  the  intellectual  power  ;  and  that 
activity  is  not  the  same  in  the  cases  of  any  two  of  them. 

"  Let  us  see,  however,  if  we  can  get  any  light  on  the 
origination  of  the  most  conspicuous  of  these  sentiments, 
— the  one  which  causes  you  to  say,  '  I  ought,'  '  It  is  my 
duty,'  '  I  must.'  Now,  we  know  where  the  intellectual 
element,  the  conviction  embodied  in  this  sentiment, 
comes  from  ;  and  all  we  have  got  to  do  is  to  hunt  up  the 
sources  of  the  emotional  and  the  impulsive  elements. 
But  we  shall  never  succeed  unless  we  get  back  a  good 
ways  behind  the  usual  starting-point  of  the  moral  phi- 
losophers. If  they  had  only  taken  it  into  their  heads  to 


A    SUNDAY    WITH    MR.    JORMAN.  55 

investigate  the  susceptibilities  embodied  in  the  emotional 
power,  they  would  have  had  plainer  sailing.  Now,  you 
don't  have  to  look  a  great  while  before  you  discover  that 
a  consciousness  of  goodness  is  delightful  to  you,  and  a 
consciousness  of  badness  is  painful  to  you.  You  know 
what  self-complacency  is  and  what  remorse  and  shame 
are.  If  you  ask  why  these  particular  actions  of  your 
intellectual  power  produce  these  emotions,  the  answer  is, 
Because  they  do.  Poke  around  till  doomsday,  and  you 
can't  find  any  explanation  of  the  fact  except  in  the  laws 
of  your  nature.  Here,  then,  you  know  that  you  have 
found  an  original  susceptibility,  which  needs  only  the 
presence  of  the  particular  intellectual  activity  I  have 
just  mentioned,  in  order  to  account  for  the  moral  senti- 
ment which  may  properly  be  called  self-judgment.  And 
at  this  very  point  you  will  find  a  good,  substantial,  in- 
destructible basis  for  a  moral  nature,  imbedded  in  the 
constitution  of  your  soul.  It  comes  by  evolution  of 
course,  evolved  from  the  fiat  of  the  Almighty  as  plainly 
and  directly  as  any  effect  ever  followed  its  cause. 

"  Now  we  are  on  the  track  of  that  sentiment  which 
makes  you  say  '  I  ought.'  You  know,  in  a  general  way, 
that  when  your  emotional  power  has  given  you  a  special 
kind  of  pleasure,  your  desiring  power  reaches  out  after  a 
repetition  of  that  pleasure.  But  the  action  of  the  former 
power  on  the  latter  is  not  immediate.  Your  intellectual 
power  is  always  busy  as  a  bee  ;  and  it  puts  in  some  fine 
work  at  this  point.  The  associative  faculty,  embodied 
in  this  power,  binds  and  glues  together  the  special  cause 
of  that  special  kind  of  pleasure,  and  the  idea  or  remi- 
niscence of  the  pleasure  itself.  After  numerous  repeti- 
tions of  this  experience,  there  grows  up  in  the  intellectual 
power  a  permanent  conception  of  that  cause  and  that  ef- 


56  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

feet  in  inseparable  union  with  each  other.  While  this  is 
taking  place,  there  is  growing  up  in  the  desiring  power  a 
permanent  desire  for  the  realization  of  that  conception. 
That  is  the  way  in  which  all  permanent  desires  are 
originated.  Of  course,  since  the  consciousness  of  good- 
ness, with  its  keen  delight,  and  the  consciousness  of  bad- 
ness, with  its  unspeakable  torture,  are  constantly  visiting 
you,  there  arises  in  your  intellect  an  indestructible  con- 
ception of  personal  goodness  inseparably  united  with  de- 
licious enjoyment.  Of  course,  too,  there  comes  into  being 
in  your  heart  an  indestructible  desire  of  personal  goodness. 
"  We  have  one  step  more  to  take.  Remember  that  we 
have  got  your  desire  of  goodness  accounted  for.  Now 
suppose  that  this  desire  was  never  to  be  impeded  in  your 
case.  Suppose  you  had  no  inclination  that  would  ever 
come  in  conflict  with  it.  Do  you  think  you  would  be 
saying,  '  I  ought  to  do  this,'  or,  '  I  ought  not  to  do  that '  ? 
Not  a  bit  of  it.  Don't  you  know  that  you  never  have 
those  phrases  in  your  mind  when  you  are  contemplating 
no  action  or  inaction  incompatible  with  spontaneous 
goodness  ?  Is  it  a  sense  of  duty  that  makes  you  kind  to 
your  mother  ? — that  causes  you  to  pet  your  sister  ? — that 
moves  you  to  exert  yourself  for  the  pleasure  of  your 
sweetheart  ?  I  tell  you  that  if  you  had  not  your  share 
of  the  depravity  that  our  preacher  talked  about  this 
morning,  it  would  be  impossible  for  you  ever  to  feel  the 
weight  of  a  moral  necessity  upon  you.  You  could 
neither  be  pricked  by  the  spur  of  moral  coercion,  nor 
feel  the  curbed-bit  of  moral  restraint.  It  is  as  plain 
as  the  nose  on  your  face  that  what  you  call  the  im- 
perativeness of  your  conscience  comes  into  being 
through  the  opposition  of  your  rascally  inclinations  to 
your  desire  of  goodness." 


A    SUNDAY    WITH    MR.    JORMAN.  57 

*  That  sounds  rather  plausible,"  I  said,  "  but  I  should 
like  to  have  you  talk  a  little  more  about  depravity — 
about  the  deceitfulness  and  wickedness  of  the  heart." 

"  Well,"  was  the  reply,  "  from  one  point  of  view,  wick- 
edness is  identical  with  jackassism.  That  is  the  view 
that  Solomon  was  apt  to  take, — what  the  writer  had  in 
mind  when  he  said  the  Lord  had  '  no  pleasure  in  fools.' 
Now  what  is  the  difference  between  the  man  who  is 
practically  wise  and  the  man  who  is  practically  foolish  ? 
Why,  the  wise  man  fixes  his  aims  on  remote  objects 
which  have  a  more  or  less  permanent  value,  and,  for  the 
sake  of  securing  them,  he  undergoes  self-denial  and 
arduous  toil,  while  the  fool  cuts  loose  from  all  remote 
and  permanent  benefits  for  the  sake  of  immediate  or 
speedy  gratifications.  If  I  had  time  I  could  show  you 
how  the  conviction,  that  personal  excellence  is  the  para- 
mount good,  and  that  personal  badness  is  the  hugest  of 
all  evils,  inevitably  takes  possession  of  every  human 
intellect  and  becomes  indestructible  there.  But  ten 
thousand  chances  for  speedy  gratification  present  them- 
selves to  our  view,  and  we  are  such  confounded  fools, 
and  in  such  a  hurry  to  be  enjoying  ourselves,  that  we  go 
for  them  at  the  expense  of  our  personal  characters. 
That  is  the  long  and  short  of  desperate  wickedness. 

"  The  deceitfulness  of  the  heart  is  very  easily  explained. 
The  whole  secret  lies  in  the  fact  that  our  intellectual 
faculties  are  under  the  sway  of  our  impulses  just  as  much 
as  our  hands  and  feet  are.  As  a  consequence,  when  our 
rascally  impulses  predominate,  our  faculties  work  in  a 
rascally  manner,  and  we  fool  ourselves  with  lies  instead 
of  feeding  ourselves  with  truth." 

"  Well,  about  the  will  ?  "  I  said.  "  It  seems  to  me  that 
you  are  a  little  crazy  on  that  point." 


58 


THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 


"  Perhaps  I  am,"  was  the  answer.  "  I  confess  that  I 
am  sometimes  inclined  to  class  the  will  as  a  sixth  origi- 
nal power — a  power  to  experience  volitions.  But  my 
prevailing  impression  is  that,  under  the  laws  which  gov- 
ern all  forces,  volitions,  choices,  and  purposes  result 
inevitably  from  the  operations  of  our  impulsive  powers — 
our  desiring  power  and  our  affectional  power.  Lines  of 
causation  can  be  traced  in  the  mental  world  just  as  dis- 
tinctly as  in  the  material  world.  In  both  spheres  we  see 
simple  forces  doing  their  work  without  impediment  ; 
forces  sputtering,  simmering,  counteracting  each  other, 
and  remaining  inoperative,  and  the  resultants  of  forces 
colliding,  conflicting,  and  co-operating.  Now,  a  volition 
is  an  effect.  All  the  metaphysical  jugglery  in  the  world 
can't  wipe  out  that  fact  ;  and  when  men  convince  them- 
selves that  they  doubt  it,  they  simply  muddle  themselves 
into  the  acceptance  of  a  lie.  If,  any  time,  when  you 
have  come  to  a  determination,  you  will  take  pains  to 
review  the  workings  of  your  mind,  you  will  have  no  diffi- 
culty in  finding  out  just  how  that  effect  was  caused.  If 
you  have  hesitated  and  deliberated  before  resolving,  you 
will  find  that  one  impulse  has  prevailed  over  another,  or 
that  the  immediate  cause  of  your  resolution  was  the 
resultant  of  several  impulses.  And  then  you  will  see 
that  this  resolution  was  the  immediate  cause  of  subse- 
quent movements  in  your  intellectual  faculties  and  your 
physical  powers." 

I  said,  "  I  don't  see  my  way  clear  to  controverting 
that  doctrine  successfully.  But,  if  our  actions  are 
brought  about  in  that  way,  instead  of  proceeding  from  a 
free  and  independent  will,  how  are  we  to  be  held  re- 
sponsible for  them?" 

"  Why,  my  dear  boy,"  he  answered,  "  what  difference 


A    SUNDAY    WITH    MR.    JORMAN. 

does  it  make,  so  far  as  your  responsibility  is  concerned, 
whether  your  actions  proceed  from  the  determinations 
of  a  single  faculty,  or  are  the  outcome  of  all  the  forces  in 
your  nature  ?  The  essential  thing  in  responsibility  is  sub- 
jection to  consequences.  In  this  sense  you  are  responsi- 
ble for  much  more  than  your  external  actions.  You 
are  responsible  for  your  susceptibilites,  your  desires,  and 
affections, — for  all  the  forces  that  lie  back  of  your  voli- 
tions ;  because  all  these  forces  have  consequences  for 
good  or  ill  to  you.  You  are  responsible  primarily  for 
being  what  you  are  ;  and  your  responsibility  for  external 
actions  is  a  secondary  matter.  Of  course  you  can  say 
that  you  did  not  create  yourself,  and  thus  get  muddled 
over  an  ambiguity  in  the  word  '  responsibility.'  You  can 
answer  as  the  boy  did  when  his  mother  asked  him,  'Why 
can  't  you  be  a  better  boy,  Silas  ? '  'I  don't  know  '  he 
said  ;  '  I  'm  just  as  the  Lord  made  me  ;  and  he  did  n't 
make  me  worth  a  snap.'  It  seems  a  little  rough  on  a 
scamp  that  he  should  be  a  scamp  ;  but,  if  such  is  a  fel- 
low's character,  he  has  got  to  take  the  consequences  as 
sure  as  you  're  born.  I  don't  have  any  trouble  over  this 
matter  nowadays.  I  am  satisfied,  in  the  first  place,  that 
it  is  a  good  thing  to  have  honest  men  in  the  universe, 
and,  in  the  second  place,  that  the  existence  of  scampery 
is  an  indispensable  pre-requisite  to  the  existence  of  hon- 
esty. The  possibility  of  any  special  virtue  presupposes 
the  possibility  of  the  opposite  vice." 

"  That  is  a  pretty  tough  doctrine,"  I  said.  "  But  I 
believe  I  have  got  my  quarter's  worth  ;  and  we  must  go 
to  tea  now,  or  the  waiters  won't  have  time  to  get  ready 
for  church." 

After  tea,  we  were  standing  near  Mrs.  Erdby  and  her 
niece,  on  the  piazza.,  when  Jorman  threw  out  a  remark 


60  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

which  evinced  a  disposition  to  ridicule  the  morning  ser- 
mon. Miss  Kitty  flared  up  and  said  to  him,  in  a  spiteful 
tone  :  "  You  had  better  go  and  preach  yourself  to-night. 
Then  we  shall  have  something  very  grand." 

"  There,  there,  darling,"  said  Mrs.  Erdby,  laying  her 
hand  on  Kitty's  arm. 

"  I  don't  care,"  was  the  response  ;  "  I  think  the  minis- 
ter was  real  nice.  Old  hateful !  "  she  added,  with  a  vio- 
lent twist  of  her  upper  lip,  as  Jorman  passed  out  of  sight 
laughing. 

After  a  few  minutes,  he  returned  and  said,  in  a  candid 
way  :  "  I  want  to  make  my  peace  with  you  Miss  Eval- 
stone.  I  ought  not  to  have  said  what  I  did  ;  and  I  mean 
to  break  myself  of  the  habit  of  making  such  remarks." 

"  Now,  you  are  trying  to  make  fun  of  me,"  she  said, 
looking  at  him  distrustfully. 

"  Indeed  I  am  not,"  he  replied  earnestly  ;  "  I  am  speak- 
ing with  perfect  sincerity.  And  I  want  to  say  to  you  that 
you  have  risen  very  much  in  my  estimation  by  standing 
up  so  resolutely  for  an  absent  person  who  has  made  a  favor- 
able impression  on  you.  Your  friends  can  always  count 
on  your  loyalty,  and  always  know  that  there  is  one  person, 
at  least,  who  will  be  prompt  to  speak  in  their  defence." 

"O  don't,"  said  Kitty.  "You  make  me  feel  so  fool- 
ish"; and  she  ducked  her  burning  face  behind  Mrs. 
Erdby's  shoulder. 

I  could  see  that  the  aunt,  as  she  caressed  Kitty's  little 
hand,  was  gratified  by  the  tribute  which  Jorman  had 
paid,  and  that  she  had  caught  a  new  revelation  as  to  his 
own  characteristics.  On  his  part  he  demonstrated  his 
sincerity  by  changing  the  young  lady's  name.  Previously, 
in  speaking  of  her  to  me,  he  had  called  her  "  Saucy-nose  "; 
but,  from  that  time  to  this,  she  has  been  "  Miss  Loyalty." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

WANTING    TO    MAKE    MONEY. 

A.  S  the  days  passed  rapidly  away,  I  became  more  im- 
**  pressed  than  I  had  ever  been  before  with  the 
value  of  a  vacation.  Every  faculty  of  my  mind  and 
every  organ  of  my  body  seemed  to  have  benefited  by 
the  relaxation  of  tension.  Moreover,  I  found  my  views 
on  various  subjects  becoming  more  broad  and  definite, 
and,  in  many  respects,  I  was  re-adjusting  myself  to  the 
conditions  of  life.  When  I  spoke  to  Jorman  on  this 
point  he  said  :  "Yes,  while  we  are  jogging  on  through 
the  wilderness,  we  ought  to  hitch  our  horses  and  go  upon 
a  hill-top  to  take  our  bearings  once  in  a  while.  We  often 
get  into  such  a  jungle  that  it  is  hard  to  pick  out  the  best 
course,  anyway,  and  we  shall  be  apt  to  get  off  the  track 
occasionally,  however  careful  we  may  be  in  our  observa- 
tions." 

For  some  weeks  I  had  avoided  reflection  on  my 
personal  affairs.  But  as  my  period  of  rest  drew  towards 
its  close,  and  I  began  to  experience  a  certain  eagerness 
to  apply  my  recruited  powers  to  business,  my  desire  for 
the  early  accumulation  of  ten  thousand  dollars  became 
more  importunate.  I  awoke  one  morning  with  that  sub- 
ject in  full  possession  of  my  thoughts  and  with  the  con- 
viction that  I  ought  no  longer  to  repel  it.  After  break- 
fast I  attempted  to  steal  away  for  the  purpose  of  solitary 
meditation.  But  Jorman  soon  overtook  me,  and  I  sud- 

61 


62  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

denly  resolved  to  make  him  my  confidant.  We  descended 
the  steep  bank  and  sat  down  in  a  sheltered  nook  at  the 
water's  edge.  I  kept  entirely  silent  for  some  time,  and 
my  friend  saw  that  I  was  in  an  unusual  frame  of  mind. 

"  You  seem  to  want  something  that  it  is  hard  to  get," 
he  said.  "  Is  your  trouble  like  Hamlet's  ?  Do  you 
'lack  advancement '  ?  Do  you  crave  the  joys  of  domi- 
nation ? " 

"  No,"  said  I,  "  I  want  to  make  some  money." 

"  To  make  some  money  !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  That  is  a 
singular  craving  for  a  child  of  Adam.  What  do  you 
want  of  money  ?  You  are  not  in  debt,  are  you  ?  " 

"  No,"  I  answered,  "  I  am  in  love." 

"Well,"  said  he,  meditatively,  " I  have  heard  a  great 
deal  about  love  in  one  way  and  another,  and  have  always 
thought  that  there  must  be  something  very  queer  about 
it,  but  I  never  understood  that  it  was  apt  to  make  a  man 
avaricious.  You  don't  suspect  that  the  heart  of  your 
lady-love  can  be  unlocked  with  a  golden  key,  I  hope  ?" 

I  responded  :  "  I  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  my 
having  money  or  not  having  it  would  make  a  particle  of 
difference  with  my  chances  for  winning  her  affections. 
If  you  will  keep  still  now  I  will  tell  you  a  story.  I  have 
got  to  tell  it  to  somebody,  and  you  may  as  well  be  my 
victim  as  any  one  else." 

I  then  gave  him  the  following  narrative  :  "  Last  winter 
I  was  canvassing  for  my  house  in  the  upper  part  of  South 
Carolina,  making  my  head-quarters  at  Spartanburg.  In 
addition  to  the  usual  lines  of  hardware,  to  which  I 
solicited  the  attention  of  merchants,  we  had  control  of 
an  improved  portable  steam-engine  which  I  had  con- 
siderable success  in  disposing  of  among  the  planters  in 
several  of  those  upper  counties.  It  was  built  on  wheels 


WANTING    TO    MAKE    MONEY.  63 

and  could  be  hauled,  on  a  good  road,  by  two  mules,  and 
it  was  a  splendid  labor-saver  in  threshing  grain,  ginning 
cotton,  and  sawing  wood.  Up  in  that  region  where 
mixed  farming  is  practised,  the  capacity  of  this  little 
engine  was  sufficient  for  most  of  the  planters,  and,  in 
some  cases,  two  or  three  of  them  joined  in  the  purchase 
of  one.  In  every  community  where  I  made  sales  of  that 
kind  I  had,  of  course,  to  set  an  engine  in  operation  and 
show  how  it  could  be  attached  to  a  threshing-machine  or 
a  cotton-gin.  That  branch  of  my  business  made  it 
necessary  for  me  to  hire  a  horse  and  buggy  at  Spartan- 
burg,  where  I  deposited  a  little  more  than  the  value  of 
the  outfit  as  a  security  against  my  running  away  with  it. 
Well,  I  had  been  starting  one  of  the  engines  at  a  place 
about  thirty  miles  southwest  from  Spartanburg,  and  had 
an  engagement  to  meet,  at  Columbia,  another  drummer, 
who  had  Georgia  and  Alabama  in  his  field.  It  was  im- 
portant that  we  should  confer  on  several  matters  con- 
nected with  the  business  of  our  house,  and  I  was  to  take 
to  him  some  new  samples  with  which  he  had  not  been 
provided.  These  were  cotton-tie  buckles  made  of  malle- 
able iron,  a  knife  for  cutting  corn-stalks,  and  a  small 
hand-mill  for  grinding  hominy.  With  these  articles  in 
my  buggy  I  was  driving,  late  in  the  afternoon,  toward  a 
station  on  the  Greenville  road,  where  I  intended  to  take 
a  train  for  Columbia  the  next  morning.  I  was  going 
pretty  fast  and  very  carelessly  through  a  wooded  ravine, 
when  my  forward  wheels  pitched  suddenly  into  the  bed 
of  a  little  stream,  the  left  hand  spindle  of  my  forward 
axle-tree  broke,  and  I  went  out  over  the  dash-board  '  on 
all  fours.'  1  had  not  passed  a  house  in  coming  the  last 
three  miles,  and  the  first  thing  to  be  found  out  was  the 
distance  to  the  nearest  habitation  in  the  other  direction. 


64  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

Hitching  my  horse  and  walking  to  the  edge  of  the  wood, 
I  saw  a  large  old  farm-house  less  than  half  a  mile  away. 
I  went  back  and  put  the  detached  wheel  in  the 
buggy  and  tried  to  take  its  place  in  holding  up  the  axle- 
tree  with  my  right  hand,  but  soon  found  that  I  could  not 
manage  the  affair  in  that  way.  I  readily  hit  on  a  suc- 
cessful device,  however.  After  lashing  a  strong  club  to 
the  axle-tree,  I  could  keep  entirely  clear  of  the  buggy- 
box  and  use  my  strength  to  so  good  advantage  that  I 
had  little  further  difficulty. 

"  When  I  came  to  the  open  ground  I  saw  that  I  was  at 
one  of  the  old  plantations  embracing  several  hundred 
acres.  A  great  part  of  the  land,  which  had  once  been 
cultivated,  was  now  '  lying  out,'  as  the  expression  is 
down  there,  and  it  was  evident  that  what  of  the  old 
fencing  material  had  not  gone  to  decay  had  been  brought 
together  for  the  protection  of  the  fields  still  enclosed. 
The  mansion  appeared  to  have  been  one  of  the  best  of 
the  ante-bellum  plantation  houses,  with  large  rooms,  high 
ceilings,  and  broad  piazzas,  but  the  paint  upon  it  had 
needed  renewing  for  many  years.  In  fact,  every  thing 
about  the  buildings,  the  once  ornamental  palings,  and  the 
shrubbery  was,  at  once,  suggestive  of  former  prosperity 
and  indicative  of  present  adversity.  As  I  drew  near  the 
house,  I  saw  two  ladies  standing  in  the  door-way,  whom 
I  took  to  be  mother  and  daughter.  The  latter  withdrew 
as  soon  as  I  came  near  enough  for  close  observation,  and 
the  former  advanced  to  the  edge  of  the  piazza  and  told 
a  little  negro  boy  to  '  go  and  ask  Mr.  John  to  come  to 
the  house.'  Then  she  said  to  me  : 

" '  I  see  that  you  have  had  an  accident.  If  you  will 
hitch  your  horse  and  walk  in,  my  son  will  be  here  to  help 
you  pretty  soon.' 


WANTING    TO    MAKE    MONEY.  65 

"  I  accepted  the  invitation  and  thanked  the  lady  for  her 
kindness.  Then  I  gave  her  my  name,  told  her  briefly 
the  nature  of  my  business,  and  spoke  of  the  importance 
of  my  getting  to  Columbia  the  next  day. 

"  '  It  can  be  managed  in  some  way,  no  doubt,'  she 
said.  '  We  are  only  eight  miles  from  the  station,  and  the 
morning  train  for  Columbia  will  not  pass  there  till  after 
nine  o'clock.  If  you  can  get  your  arrangements  made 
to-night,  you  will  have  plenty  of  time  to  ride  over  in  the 
morning.' 

"  I  merely  bowed  my  head  in  return  for  this  quiet  ten- 
der of  hospitality,  because  I  had  already  learned  that  the 
treatment  of  such  things  as  a  matter  of  course  was  the 
most  acceptable  form  of  acknowledgment  with  the  class 
of  people  to  which  this  family  evidently  belonged.  In  a 
short  time  I  heard  a  quick,  heavy  step  on  the  piazza.,  and 
then  the  name  '  John  '  pronounced  by  a  gentle  voice 
which  seemed  to  come  from  the  end  of  the  hall  opposite 
the  front  door.  '  Well,  Sis,'  said  the  young  man,  as  he 
passed  the  door  of  the  room  in  which  I  was  sitting.  He 
made  his  appearance  after  attending  for  a  few  moments 
to  what  his  sister  had  to  say  to  him,  and  his  mother  in- 
troduced him  to  me  as  her  '  son,  Mr.  John  Orlington.' 

"  He  was  a  muscular  young  fellow,  of  about  my  own 
height,  with  dark  hair  and  eyes,  and  a  face  very  thor- 
oughly bronzed.  I  took  him  to  be  about  twenty  years 
old.  At  his  suggestion,  we  went  out  to  see  '  what  could 
be  done  about  the  buggy.'  He  examined  the  broken 
spindle  and  then  said  :  '  I  'm  afraid  it  's  too  large  ;  but 
there  's  nothing  like  trying.' 

"  '  Afraid  what  is  too  large  ? '  I  asked,  as  he  was  moving 
away. 

"  '  Oh,  an  old  iron  ex  up  in  the  shed-loft,'  he   said. 


66  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

'  Sis  called  me  in  to  tell  me  about  it.  I  had  n't  thought 
of  it  ;  but  Sis  always  thinks  of  every  thing.' 

"  He  brought  down  the  axle-tree,  and  we  saw  at  once 
that  his  apprehensions  were  well  founded.  The  box  in 
the  wheel  was  too  small  to  admit  the  spindle.  I  ex- 
plained my  predicament,  and  he  said,  thoughtfully  : 

"  '  It  's  a  right  bad  piece  of  business,  but  I  reckon 
we  '11  work  it  all  right  some  way.  I  '11  talk  with  Sis 
about  it  after  supper.' 

"It  was  almost  sun-down,  and,  just  then,  a  gentleman 
with  bushy  white  hair  and  beard  rode  up,  called  a  negro 
to  take  his  horse,  and  asked  John,  in  a  hurried  way,  if 
the  plowing  of  a  certain  field  was  finished.  As  he  dis- 
mounted, John  introduced  me  to  his  '  father,  Colonel 
Orlington.'  He  shook  hands  with  me  in  a  somewhat 
effusive  way,  and,  noticing  my  broken  buggy,  said  : 
'  Ah,  you  have  had  a  break-down.  Well,  come  in,  and 
we  '11  think  what  it  is  best  to  do  by  and  by.' 

"At  the  supper-table  I  was  introduced  to  Miss  Orling- 
ton. John's  remark  about  her  always  thinking  of  every 
thing,  and  his  evident  confidence  in  her  ability  to  solve 
all  difficulties,  led  me  to  look  at  her  observantly.  My 
first  thought  was  :  '  She  looks  very  much  as  my  mother 
must  have  looked  at  her  age.'  I  was  impressed  chiefly 
by  the  same  indefinable  brightness  of  countenance,  sug- 
gestive of  a  joyous  fulness  of  life  which  had  character- 
ized the  earliest  picture  of  my  mother  that  had  ever  been 
planted  in  my  imagination. 

"  The  chair  in  which  I  seated  myself  proved  a  little 
rickety,  and  I  gave  a  slight  start  which  attracted  Colonel 
Orlington's  attention.  '  Our  furniture  partakes  of  the 
decrepitude  of  our  fortunes,'  he  said.  '  I  am  so  much 
ashamed  of  it  that  I  bave  brought  up  the  subject  of  get- 


WANTING    TO    MAKE    MONEY.  67 

ting  a  new  set  a  good  many  times.  But  these  good 
ladies  say  that  I  must  see  myself  out  of  debt  first.  I 
suppose  it  is  a  good  thing  that  they  are  not  as  proud  as  I 
am.' 

"  '  You  mean/  said  Mrs.  Orlington  in  a  quiet  way, 
'  that  we  are  too  proud  to  have  new  furniture  about  us 
while  any  of  your  creditors  are  anxious  for  their  pay. 
As  long  as  we  do  right,  the  Lord  will  take  care  of  us  ; 
and  his  care  is  a  gread  deal  better  than  fine  chairs  and 
expensive  china.' 

"  The  Colonel  heaved  a  deep  sigh,  and  a  heavy  cloud 
came  over  his  face. 

" '  You  have  made  very  good  progress  the  last  year, 
Papa,'  said  the  young  lady  ;  '  and  one  or  two  more 
good  crops  will  make  the  sky  all  clear  for  us.' 

"  '  I  think,'  said  I,  '  that  there  is  a  very  general  feeling 
of  encouragement  among  the  planters  of  this  region.  I 
have  met  a  number  of  them  who  are  contemplating  ex- 
tensive improvements  on  their  places,  and  quite  a  num- 
ber who  are  expending  considerable  sums  in  the  pur- 
chase of  labor-saving  machinery.' 

"  This  remark  led  the  Colonel  to  ask  such  questions 
that  I  had  occasion  to  describe  the  portable  steam-en- 
gine. '  Those  who  have  bought  the  engine,'  I  added^ 
'  count  on  a  large  saving  in  ginning  their  own  cotton. 
They  say  that,  in  addition  to  the  exorbitant  tolls  charged 
at  the  large  establishments,  the  expense  of  hauling  has 
been  more  than  it  will  cost  them  to  run  the  engine. 
Besides,  by  keeping  the  cotton-seed  on  their  places,  and 
restoring  it  to  the  soil  as  a  fertilizer,  they  will  prevent 
such  exhaustion  as  has  been  going  on  in  their  fields.' 

"  Observing  that  Miss  Orlington  and  her  brother  were 
exchanging  glances  which  indicated  very  plainly  both  a 


68  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

strong  wish  for  one  of  the  engines,  and  a  conviction  of  the 
impossibility  of  procuring  one,  I  looked  down  upon  my 
plate  and  said,  in  a  tone  of  indifference  :  '  My  employers 
are  so  anxious  to  introduce  the  engine,  that  they  have 
told  me  to  give  it  time  to  pay  for  itself  whenever  I  think 
best.  I  have  just  started  one  for  Mr.  James  Ardell. 
His  place  is  not  more  than  ten  miles  from  here  ;  is  it  ?  " 

"  'About  twelve,'  the  Colonel  said. 

"  After  supper  I  went  with  the  father  and  son  into  the 
sitting-room,  and  the  daughter  came  in  soon  afterwards, 
seated  herself  by  a  lamp  in  the  corner  of  the  room  and 
began  the  hemming  of  a  white  apron.  Referring  to  my 
remark  about  the  feeling  of  encouragement  among  the 
planters,  Colonel  Orlington  said  : 

"'We  are  beginning  to  see  just  a  little  light.  Now 
that  Hampton  has  got  in,  it  begins  to  look  as  if  our  peo- 
ple were  going  to  have  some  chance  for  their  lives.  But 
I  have  no  hope  that  we  old  men  shall  get  rid  of  any 
great  part  of  our  burdens  till  we  lay  them  down  at  our 
graves.  It  will  be  toil  and  worry  for  us,  toil  and  worry, 
as  long  as  we  live.  But  I  suppose  that  is  the  fate  of  all 
inhabitants  of  a  conquered  country — of  subjugated  pro- 
vinces.' 

"  I  ought  to  have  known  better  than  to  have  answered 
this  last  remark  as  I  did  ;  but  I  was  foolish  enough  to 
say  : 

"'We  of  the  North  don't  look  upon  the  South  as  a  con- 
quered country,  or  upon  the  Southern  States  as  sub- 
jugated provinces.  We  thought  it  our  duty  to  sustain 
the  authority  of  the  national  government ;  but,  since 
that  has  ceased  to  be  resisted,  we  have  regarded  the 
Southern  States  as  integral  portions  of  our  common 
country.' 


WANTING    TO   MAKE    MONEY.  69 

"'Yes;  you  act  like  it,'  he  exclaimed,  passionately. 
'Your  common  country  !  Your  duty  !  Your  duty  !  I  've 
nothing  to  say  about  the  war.  We  did  our  best  to  secure 
our  independence  ;  and  we  got  whipped  and  gave  it  up. 
But  then  it  was  your  duty  to  send  down  a  horde  of  your 
vilest  scoundrels  to  put  the  niggers  over  our  heads  and 
rob  us  and  persecute  us  and  confiscate  our  property  by 
taxation.  Your  duty  !  Oh,  you  are  all  wonderfully  right- 
eous! If  you  could  make  the  niggers  turn  us  out  of 
house  and  home,  and  see  us  all  starving  to  death,  you 
would  feel  so  righteous  that  you  would  have  nothing  to 
do  but  to  step  right  into  heaven.' 

"  He  flung  out  of  the  room  with  all  the  signs  of  tower- 
ing rage,  leaving  me  in  a  state  of  mind  which  it  would 
have  been  hard  to  analyze.  I  was  dumbfounded,  and 
I  was  angry.  I  had  vague  thoughts  of  the  propriety  of 
leaving  the  house  and  spending  the  night  in  the  woods. 
The  young  lady  sat  motionless,  and  her  face  was  per- 
fectly pallid  ;  and  John  sat  looking  at  her  with  an  ex- 
pression which  said  the  responsibility  for  curing  the  evil 
which  had  been  wrought  rested  with  her  alone.  After 
what  seemed  to  me  an  age,  she  raised  her  eyes  to  his  and 
said  to  him,  with  a  voice  full  of  tears  : 

" '  I  hope  Papa's  anxieties  and  trials  will  not  change 
him  so  much  that  his  old  friends  will  forget  how  good 
and  noble  he  has  always  been.' 

"This  speech  wrought  a  complete  revolution  in  my 
feelings.  My  anger  was  all  gone,  and  I  cared  for  noth- 
ing but  the  relief  of  the  young  lady's  distress. 

"'I  know,'  said  I,  'that  the  heads  of  families  in  this 
part  of  the  country  have  had  to  endure  terrible  trials  ; 
and  they  would  have  been  more  than  human  if  they  had 
not  become  very  sensitive  on  some  points.  It  was  alto- 


70  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

gether  wrong  for  me  to  say  what  I  did.  I  ought  to  have 
known  that  it  was  scarcely  possible  to  make  a  more 
aggravating  speech.  I  was  very  thoughtless.' 

"  '  I  suppose  that,  of  course,  you  cannot  look  at  these 
things  as  we  do/  she  said,  as  her  countenance  began  to 
clear  up. 

"  '  I  did  n't  look  at  them  at  all,  but  blurted  out  what 
happened  to  come  into  my  head.  I  can  see,  now  that  I 
have  had  a  little  time  to  think,  that  there  was  no  justifi- 
cation for  my  remark  in  the  facts  of  the  case.  I  spoke 
as  if  we  Northerners  were  all  of  one  mind  in  regard  to 
the  treatment  of  the  South, — which  is  very  far  from  being 
the  truth.  And  then  it  was  an  outrageous  piece  of  arro- 
gance for  me  to  intimate  that  we  were  all  governed  by  a 
sense  of  duty  in  all  that  we  did.  We  have  as  many 
stupid  prejudices  and  evil  passions  as  other  people.' 

"  '  Mamma  is  often  saying  to  us  that  there  is  goodness 
and  badness  everywhere,  and  that  it  is  only  the  Lord 
that  is  capable  of  sitting  in  judgment, — that  all  we  have 
to  do  is  to  keep  our  own  hearts  right.  You  can  under- 
stand how  things  must  have  changed  in  this  section.  I 
was  only  a  little  girl  when  our  troubles  began  ;  but  I  can 
remember  that  we  never  thought  of  going  without  any 
thing  we  wanted  on  account  of  the  expense.  But  papa 
is  not  distressed  just  because  we  are  poor  and  have  to  go 
without  things.  It  is  because  he  owes  debts  that  he  has 
not  been  able  to  pay,  and  owes  some  of  them  to  people 
who  need  their  money.  This  has  troubled  him  so  much 
that  we  have  been  afraid,  sometimes,  it  would  kill  him. 
And  he  thinks  he  would  have  had  all  his  debts  paid  years 
ago  if  it  had  not  been  for  bad  government.  So  you  see 
it  is  natural  that  he  should  have  some  feelings  when  he  is 
set  to  thinking  on  that  subject.' 


WANTING    TO    MAKE    MONEY.  71 

"'I  am  satisfied,'  I  said,  'that  mis-government  in 
South  Carolina  has  gone  beyond  all  bounds  ;  and  I  be- 
lieve that  a  large  majority  of  the  Northern  people  would 
have  demanded  that  a  stop  should  be  put  to  such  enormi- 
ties if  they  had  been  aware  of  them.' 

"While  I  was  making  this  remark,  the  Colonel  returned 
to  the  room  accompanied  by  his  wife.  He  had  recovered 
a  good  measure  of  equanimity,  and  was  evidently  dis- 
posed to  bury  the  unpleasant  incident  which  had  oc- 
curred. 

"  '  John,'  he  said,  '  if  you  can  let  this  gentleman  take 
your  saddle,  he  can  go  over  to  the  station  on  horseback 
in  the  morning.' 

"  '  Yes,'  said  the  young  man  ;  'but  he  has  got  to  carry 
some  packages  that  he  can't  take  on  the  horse.  Sister 
Martha  says  that  I  can  put  his  horse  in  our  buggy  and 
drive  him  over  and  get  back  before  you  will  want  to  start 
to  town.  Lightfoot  can  stay  in  the  stable  and  be  all 
fresh,  you  know.' 

"  '  It  is  too  bad  for  me  to  be  giving  you  so  much  trou- 
ble,' I  said. 

"  '  Don't  mention  it,'  the  Colonel  answered.  '  Perhaps 
I  shall  ride  over  to  Ardell's  with  you  and  look  at  that 
engine  when  you  get  back.  Do  you  keep  any  track  of 
the  affairs  of  Brown  University  ? ' 

"'O  yes,  sir,"  I  replied.  'I  spent  two  years  in  the 
institution  and  take  great  interest  in  all  that  concerns  it. 
It  is  in  a  prosperous  condition.' 

"  '  I  am  glad  to  hear  it.  Brown  is  my  Alma  Mater.  I 
graduated  in  the  class  of  51.' 

"  '  The  class  of  51  !  Why  you  must  have  been  acotem- 
porary  of  my  father  there." 

"  '  Your  father  ?  Your  name  is ? ' 


72  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

"  '  Bidrop.' 

" '  What !  Are  you  a  son  of  Jabez  Bidrop  ?  ' 

"'Yes,  sir.' 

"  '  Why,  he  was  my  classmate,  and  became  my  dearest 
friend.  I  did  n't  get  much  acquainted  with  him  till  near 
the  end  of  my  Sophomore  year.  There  were  several  of 
us  Southerners,  and  three  or  four  Northern  fellows,  who 
had  plenty  of  money  ;  and  we  formed  a  little  set  among 
ourselves.  We  all  respected  Bidrop.  We  could  n't  help 
it.  He  was  always  gentlemanly  ;  and  he  led  the  class  in 
several  studies.  In  fact,  he  came  to  be  regarded  as 
about  the  ablest  man  among  us,  and  we  got  to  feeling 
that  we  were  honored  when  he  gave  us  a  friendly  greet- 
ing and  exchanged  a  few  words  with  us.  He  never  put 
on  any  pharisaical  airs  on  account  of  our  frolicking, 
though  we  all  knew  that  his  own  principles  were  as  firm 
as  the  everlasting  hills.  My  own  intimacy  with  him 
came  about  in  this  way  :  I  am  ashamed  to  say  that, 
during  the  first  two  thirds* of  my  Sophomore  year,  I  was 
going  down  hill  pretty  fast.  I  neglected  my  studies  and 
got  more  and  more  in  the  way  of  carousing  at  night.  It 
became  altogether  probable  that  I  should  break  down  at 
the  examination  and  be  put  back  a  year,  even  if  I  was 
allowed  to  stay  at  the  university  at  all.  I  was  thinking 
of  that  prospect  one  day  while  walking  along  through 
the  grounds,  and  Bidrop  hurried  up  and  overtook  me. 
He  locked  his  arm  into  mine,  and  said,  without  any  pre- 
liminaries :  "  Orlington,  I  can't  see  you  going  to  destruc- 
tion without  trying  to  stop  you.  I  have  no  faith  to 
attempt  any  thing  with  any  of  your  associates.  But  I 
remember  that  you  and  I  used  to  feel  alike  about  religion 
when  we  first  came  here.  Can't  you  get  back  to  that 
spot  again  and  begin  anew  ?  "  1  told  him  I  was  afraid  it 


WANTING    TO    MAKE    MONEY.  73 

was  all  up  with  me,  that  I  was  sure  to  fail  at  the  exam- 
ation  and  be  disgraced  forever.  But  he  said  I  should  n't 
fail,  that  he  would  n't  permit  it,  that  he  would  get  per- 
mission for  me  to  come  and  study  in  his  room  and  we 
would  review  together.  That  plan  was  carried  out,  and 
I  was  rescued.  O  how  many,  many  times  I  have 
thought  of  the  impossibility  of  fully  estimating  all  that  I 
owe  to  Jabez  Bidrop.  He  is  well  and  prosperous,  I 
hope.' 

" '  My  father  died  over  five  years  ago,'  I  managed  to 
articulate. 

"While  Colonel  Orlington  was  speaking,  the  image  of 
my  dead  father  presented  itself  to  me  more  vividly  than 
it  had  ever  done  before  ;  and  I  had  such  a  sense  of  the 
measurelessness  of  the  loss  experienced  by  my  mother, 
my  sister,  and  myself,  that  my  whole  frame  was  con- 
vulsed in  the  struggle  to  keep  from  breaking  out  in  a  fit 
of  weeping.  Happening,  just  then,  to  raise  my  eyes,  I 
saw  Miss  Orlington  looking  at  me  with  such  an  expres- 
sion of  unutterable  commiseration  as  I  can  hardly  be- 
lieve any  other  human  countenance  ever  wore.  If  I  had 
spoken  at  that  moment,  I  should  have  said  :  '  God  bless 
you  !  You  are  giving  me  the  very  help  I  need.'  Our 
eyes  met,  and  our  gazes  had  intermingled  for  several 
seconds  before  either  of  us  became  self-conscious.  I 
regained  control  of  myself  at  once,  but  have  no  distinct 
recollection  of  our  further  conversation,  beyond  the  fact 
that  I  gave  Colonel  Orlington  some  account  of  my 
father's  life  and  his  last  illness. 

"  I  remember  that,  as  soon  as  I  had  been  shown  to  my 
room  and  had  shut  the  door,  I  said  to  myself  :  'I  know 
what  love  is  now.  I  know  what  it  is  to  crave  possession 
of  a  treasure  which  is  beyond  all  price.  I  believe  that 


74  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

God  is  looking  upon  me  with  approbation  while  I  am  re- 
solving that  Martha  Orlington  must  and  shall  be  mine. 

0  let  my  soul  be  purified  from   every  taint  that  makes 
me  unworthy  of  her.' 

"  It  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  give  a  connected  ac- 
count of  the  reflections  which  came  to  me  during  that 
night.  Every  word  which  the  young  lady  had  spoken 
in  my  hearing  recurred  to  me  again  and  again,  and  I 
had  repeated  visions  of  her  in  all  the  attitudes  in  which 

1  had  seen  her,  and   with  all   the  different   expression 
which  her  countenance  had  presented  to  my  view.  These 
remembrances,  with  the  boundless  confidence  which  her 
brother  had  evinced,  seemed  to  me  to  constitute  all-suf- 
ficient data  for  an  estimate  of  her  character  ;  and  the 
conviction  of  my  understanding  was  in  full  accord  with 
the  longing  of  my  heart. 

"  John  and  I  took  an  early  start  in  the  morning  and 
drove  toward  the  station  rapidly.  I  was  disposed  to 
question  him  on  various  points  connected  with  farming 
in  upper  South  Carolina,  because  I  had  been  for  some 
weeks  discovering  attractions  and  imagining  possibilities 
of  attraction  in  that  way  of  life.  That  morning  the  con- 
ception of  myself  as  a  South  Carolina  farmer  was  very 
definite  in  my  mind.  I  asked  particularly  about  the 
laborers. 

" '  Oh,'  said  he, '  we  make  a  great  fuss  about  the  niggers 
being  good  for  nothing,  but  we  get  on  with  them  right 
well  after  all.  We  have  to  look  after  them,  of  course, 
and  put  up  with  right  smart  of  meanness  once  in  awhile. 
But  Pa  and  I  would  n't  change  off  to  any  other  kind  of 
hands.  They  Ve  been  getting  better  all  the  time  since 
they  began  to  cool  down  on  politics.  A  few  years  ago 
we  could  n't  do  any  thing  with  them  in  election  years. 


WANTING    TO    MAKE    MONEY.  75 

They  had  to  go  to  every  radical  pow-wow  within  fifty 
miles,  and  we  used  to  think  the  carpet-baggers  got  up 
meetings  just  to  make  them  leave  the  fields  when  we 
needed  them  the  worst.  The  office-holders  hated  us  so 
they  wanted  to  worry  us  every  way  they  could.  One 
summer,  when  our  cotton  was  getting  into  the  grass  like 
the  old  Nick,  the  niggers  went  off  to  a  barbecue  and 
were  gone  three  days  ;  and  because  Pa  scolded  right 
sharp  when  they  got  back  they  said  he  was  "  'timadatin' 
'em  'cause  they  was  erpublicans,"  and  they  went  off 
again  and  staid  off  till  the  rains  set  in  and  we  could  n't 
do  a  thing.  We  just  had  to  throw  the  crop  away.' 

"  '  That  did  n't  make  you  feel  very  pleasantly  toward 
their  political  leaders.' 

"'  I  reckon  it  did  n't.  It  was  a  good  thing  they  did  n't 
any  of  them  get  in  my  way  when  I  was  out  hunting 
squirrels.' 

"  '  There  was  a  little  ku-kluxing  done  I  believe  about 
that  time.' 

"  '  Yes,  the  young  fellows  went  it  pretty  strong  for  a 
while.  I  reckon  I  should  have  gone  m  with  them, 
though  I  was  n't  more  than  fifteen  years  old,  if  it  had  n't 
been  for  Ma  and  Sis, — especially  Sis.  They  're  both 
mighty  pious.  I  could  n't  just  take  in  what  Ma  said,  but 
Sis  told  me  it  was  n't  manly  to  go  sneaking  round  in  the 
dark  with  a  veil  over  my  face, — that  her  brother  was  n't 
to  do  any  thing  that  he  could  n't  do  in  the  daytime, 
with  his  face  bare  and  his  head  up.' 

"  John  met  me  at  the  station  on  my  return  from  Colum- 
bia, and  we  reached  his  home  at  supper-time.  I  brought 
a  spindle  to  be  welded  upon  my  axle-tree,  having  learned 
that  Colonel  Orlington  kept  a  blacksmith  on  his  place. 
I  had  fully  determined  on  my  line  of  action  for  the  time 


•j6  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

being  :  I  was  to  repress,  so  far  as  that  might  be  possible, 
all  external  signs  of  my  ardent  affection  and  my  resolute 
determination.  Still,  it  was  plain  to  me  that  Miss 
Orlington  and  I  could  never  again  appear  to  each  other 
precisely  as  we  had  appeared  before  that  moment  when 
we  interchanged  gazes. 

"  After  supper  the  Colonel  said  :  '  My  daughter  sug- 
gests that  I  get  you  to  do  a  little  figuring  for  us.  The 
question  is  whether  the  time  of  my  getting  out  of  debt 
would  be  hastened  or  delayed  if  I  should  buy  one  of 
your  engines  and  the  other  machinery  that  would  be 
necessary.  You  must  understand,  though,  that  nothing 
can  be  permitted  to  come  in  the  way  of  my  paying  off  a 
few  hundred  dollars  at  the  earliest  day  possible.  The 
money  is  very  much  needed.' 

"  You  can  imagine  how  gratified  I  was  at  being  taken 
into  the  family  counsels  in  that  way.  I  got  a  memoran- 
dum-pad from  my  satchel  and  took  out  my  pencil,  and 
we  seated  ourselves  in  a  semicircle  near  the  lamp.  They 
gave  me  an  estimate  of  the  bushels  of  Avheat  and  oats  to 
be  threshed,  and  of  the  pounds  of  cotton  to  be  ginned. 
Then  I  set  down  the  cost  of  threshing  the  grain  by 
horse-power,  and  of  hauling  the  cotton  to  and  from  the 
ginning  establishment,  with  the  value  of  the  tolls  that 
would  be  taken  in  lieu  of  a  cash  payment  for  ginning. 
I  added  to  this  the  estimated  value  of  the  seed  that 
would  be  lost.  On  the  other  hand,  after  inquiring  as  to 
the  wages  customarily  paid  in  the  vicinity,  I  gave  the 
cost  of  ginning  and  threshing  with  the  help  of  our  en- 
gine. The  Colonel  said  it  was  hardly  worth  while  to 
take  the  necessary  fuel  into  account,  because  they  had 
an  abundance  of  it  going  to  decay  on  the  place,  and  it 
could  be  hauled  up  when  they  would  have  nothing  else 


WANTING    TO    MAKE    MONEY.  77 

to  do.  The  result  of  my  figuring  showed  a  probable 
saving  considerably  in  excess  of  what  I  had  roughly 
conjectured. 

"  '  Now,'  said  I,  '  our  house  can  furnish  all  the  ma- 
chinery, belting,  and  so  forth,  that  you  will  need.  This 
being  the  case,  in  casting  up  your  resources  for  paying 
debts  in  the  next  year  or  two,  all  that  you  have  to  do  is 
to  deduct  from  this  amount  saved,  which  you  see  here, 
six  per  cent,  on  the  cost  of  your  whole  outfit.  Our 
people  won't  have  to  lie  out  of  the  use  of  their  money, 
you  know.  They  can  realize  on  your  paper  by  endorsing 
it,  and  they  know  parties  on  all  sides  of  them  who  are 
glad  of  the  chance  to  carry  paper,  bearing  their  endorse- 
ment, for  any  length  of  time  at  six  per  cent,  annually.' 

"  '  Well,  what  do  you  say,  Martha  ? '  Colonel  Orlington 
asked,  after  a  considerable  period  of  silence. 

"  The  young  lady  lifted  her  eyes  to  me  timidly,  with  a 
little  flush  on  her  cheeks,  and  asked  :  '  Mr.  Bidrop,  are 
you  sure  that  this  is  a  regular  way  of  doing  business, 
which  you  are  proposing  ?  ' 

"  '  Quite  sure.' 

"  '  I  suppose  it  is  our  being  so  poor  that  makes  us  par- 
ticular about  such  things.  But  we  want  to  feel  that  we 
are  not  getting  any  thing  by  way  of  charity,  but  that  peo- 
ple treat  us,  in  business  matters,  just  as  they  treat  every- 
body else.' 

" '  Oh,  that  would  be  impossible.  To  treat  all  persons 
alike  would  be  the  most  un-business-like  proceeding  in 
the  world.  No  good  merchant  thinks  of  doing  such  a 
thing.  The  most  important  element  of  success  in  mer- 
chandising is  the  ability  to  vary  one's  treatment  of  dif- 
ferent parties  according  to  the  degrees  of  confidence  to 
which  they  are  entitled.  Selling  on  credit  to  one  party 


78  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

is  as  good  as  selling  for  cash,  and  often  better,  while  sell- 
ing on  credit  to  another  party  would  be  throwing  the 
goods  away.  I  assure  you  that  I  make  this  offer  to  Colo- 
nel Orlington  because  I  am  convinced  that  such  a  trans- 
action as  I  have  proposed  would  be  for  the  interest  of 
my  employers.  His  buying  the  outfit,  and  showing  its 
value,  will  lead  others  to  do  the  same.  Besides,  I  am 
satisfied  as  to  his  future  resources,  and  I  know  that  he 
will  turn  the  world  upside  down,  if  necessary,  in  order 
to  meet  his  obligations.' 

"  There  was  silence  again  for  a  few  moments,  and  then 
Miss  Orlington  said  :  '  I  think  you  had  better  ride  over 
to  Mr.  Ardell's  to-morrow,  Papa.' 

"  It  was  decided,  in  the  morning,  that  the  Colonel  and 
I  should  take  our  ride  on  horseback.  When  we  had  gone 
about  five  miles,  we  were  passing  through  a  large  planta- 
tion which  had  been  entirely  abandoned  with  the  excep- 
tion of  two  or  three  small  enclosures.  '  This/  said  my 
companion,  '  is  Ellermere, — the  place  on  which  my  wife 
was  born.  It  used  to  be  called  the  best  plantation  in 
this  part  of  the  State.  There  are  fifteen  hundred  acres 
in  the  tract,  with  quite  a  variety  of  soils.  This,  on  the 
hill  here,  is  pretty  good,  but  the  bottom,  that  you  see 
down  there  at  the  right,  is  very  rich.  It  is  a  little  hard 
to  cultivate  on  account  of  the  crookedness  of  the  stream 
that  runs  through  it.  They  had  to  make  short  lands  a 
good  deal  of  the  time,  and  do  right  smart  of  turning 
round.  That  long  row  of  tumbled-down  cabins,  the  old 
quarters,  will  give  you  an  idea  of  the  number  of  hands 
that  used  to  be  kept  on  the  place.  Oh,  it  was  nearer  to 
being  a  paradise,  thirty  years  ago,  than  any  other  place  I 
ever  saw.  General  Mabberly,  my  wife's  father,  died  just 
at  the  close  of  the  war — her  mother  had  gone  on  before 


WANTING    TO   MAKE   MONEY.  79 

him, — and  the  estate  was  so  involved  that  it  was  no  use  to 
try  to  save  the  old  place.  It  was  bid  in  by  Cavalow  & 
Co.,  ot  Charleston,  who  had  been  the  General's  factors  a 
long  time,  and  they  have  let  it  lie  out  all  these  years.  It 
was  the  best  they  could  do.  They  would  have  lost 
money  if  they  had  tried  to  have  the  land  cultivated,  and 
there  has  been  no  sale  for  such  property  at  any  price.' 

"  I  had  attached  a  small  circular-saw  to  Ardell's  en- 
gine, and  it  was  employed  in  sawing  out  pickets  when  we 
arrived.  The  Colonel  was  delighted.  '  Why,'  said  he, 
'  what  will  Martha  think  when  I  tell  her  we  can  get  new 
fences  for  the  house-yard  and  the  turkey-lot  without  any 
expense  ? ' 

"  On  our  return,  I  proposed  that  we  ride  over  the  old 
plantation,  so  that  I  could  get  a  general  sketch  of  it  in 
my  mind.  The  old  mansion  stood  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
from  the  highway,  with  an  eastward  frontage,  and  was 
nearly  surrounded  by  majestic  trees.  On  riding  up  to  it, 
I  found  that  it  commanded  an  extensive  prospect,  and 
that  the  ground  sloped  from  it  gently  in  three  directions. 
I  judged  that  most  of  the  framework  was  still  sound 
enough  to  justify  repairs. 

"  In  the  course  of  the  evening  Colonel  Orlington  spoke 
of  our  survey  of  Ellermere. 

"  '  Oh,  the  dear  old  place  !  '  Miss  Martha  exclaimed. 
'  I  should  rather  live  there  than  anywhere  else  in  the 
world,  if  I  could  not  stay  here.' 

"  Before  I  took  my  departure,  the  next  morning,  I  ar- 
ranged to  order  an  engine  and  saw,  and  to  return  in 
three  weeks  to  put  them  in  operation.  Then  I  took  the 
address  of  Cavalow  &  Co.,  saying  that  I  was  going  to 
Charleston,  and  wanted  to  inquire  about  the  ownership  of 
Ellermere,  and  the  terms  on  which  it  could  be  bought 


8o  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

Miss  Orlington  glanced  at  me  swiftly,  and  then  swiftly 
turned  her  face  away,  evidently  regretting  that  she  had 
given  a  sign  of  noticing  my  remark.  But  she  had  caught 
my  eye,  and  I  knew  that  she  had  connected  my  words 
with  what  she  had  said  the  night  before  about  living  at 
Ellermere. 

"  I  ascertained  in  Charleston  that  the  place  had  been 
conveyed  to  James  Perrison,  of  New  York,  and  stated 
this  fact  when  I  re-visited  the  Orlingtons.  As  soon  as  I 
came  home,  I  looked  up  Mr.  Perrison,  and  ascertained 
that  he  was  ready  to  sell  Ellermere  for  $7,500 — five  dol- 
lars per  acre.  I  paid  him  one  hundred  dollars  and  took 
his  refusal  of  the  place  at  that  price  for  eight  months." 

Jorman  had  listened  to  my  narrative  very  attentively  ; 
and  when  I  had  concluded  he  said  :  "  You  are  a  modest 
young  man  in  your  undertakings.  You  could  n't  content 
yourself  with  determining  to  get  the  girl.  The  problem 
would  not  have  been  complicated  enough  ;  and  so  you 
think  you  must  have  both  her  and  the  old  plantation." 

"  I  am  going  to  try  for  both." 

"  Don't  you  think  she  would  be  willing  to  come  and 
live  at  the  North  ?  " 

"  Why,  Jorman  !  How  can  you  ask  such  a  question  as 
that  ?  Do  you  think  my  love  for  her  is  not  strong 
enough  to  keep  me  from  wishing  her  to  take  all  the  light 
out  of  the  life  of  her  parents,  and  to  turn  her  young 
brother  adrift  in  the  world  ?  Do  you  think  I  would  lay 
upcn  her  the  frightful  burden  of  remembering,  every 
hour  of  every  day,  that  she  had  wrought  such  a  work  as 
that  ? " 

"  No,  Nolly,"  he  said,  looking  at  me  with  a  little  mois- 
ture in  his  eyes,  "  I  don't  think  it  is  in  you  to  do  any 
thing  of  that  kind.  Other  men  have  that  peculiar  variety 


WANTING    TO   MAKE   MONEY.  8l 

of  power  ;  but  it  happened  to  be  omitted  from  your 
composition.  Let  me  have  time  to  get  all  this  nonsensi- 
cal stuff  straightened  out  in  my  cranium.  I  am  Ralph 
Jorman — the  lover's  confidant.  I  must  go  and  buy  me 
a  fan." 


CHAPTER  V. 

A  RAINY  DAY. 

THE  next  morning  we  were  shut  in  by  a  pouring  rain. 
Soon  after  breakfast  Jorman  called  me  to  the 
eastern  piazza,  where  we  could  make  ourselves  comfort- 
able, since  the  storm  came  from  the  west. 

"  Miss  Orlington's  eyes  are  black,  I  suppose,"  he  said. 

"  Very  nearly  so.  Her  eyebrows  are  entirely  black, 
and  finely  arched." 

"  Did  you  get  your  blue  eyes  from  your  father  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  Well,  that  is  all  right.     How  tall  is  she  ?  " 

"  Of  about  medium  height,  and  a  trifle  more  than  me- 
dium weight.  Her  form  is  perfect." 

"  Oh,  of  course.  It  is  altogether  probable — in  fact,  if 
her  heart  was  not  pre-occupied  it  is  certain — that  she  was 
fatally  struck  at  the  same  instant  when  you  went  under. 
For  a  young  man  and  a  young  woman  to  gaze  into  each 
other's  eyes  through  several  seconds,  at  a  moment  of  in- 
tense and  pure  feeling,  is  an  immense  event.  Such  a 
conjunction  of  two  souls  seldom  takes  place,  and  when 
it  occurs  it  is  not  apt  to  be  forgotten  by  either  of  them. 
When  that  look  of  almost  divine  commiseration  came 
to  you,  your  sense  of  relief  was  commensurate  with  the 
distress  which  you  had  been  suffering  ;  and  your  heart 
reacted  with  a  sweep  which  carried  you  across  the  Ru- 
bicon at  once.  Then  every  thousandth  part  of  a  second, 

82 


A    RAINY    DAY.  83 

during  that  supreme  moment,  helped  to  make  your  re- 
turn impossible.  Well,  now,  on  th'e  young  lady's  part. 
There  was  something  more  than  sympathy.  There  was 
a  good  measure  of  complacency,  growing  out  of  a  favor- 
able judgment.  There  was  a  recognition  of  a  species  of 
goodness  which  is  thought  to  be  rare  in  this  coarse 
world,  when  she  saw  the  frame  of  a  robust  young  man 
convulsed  in  that  way.  Besides,  pity  always  carries  with 
it  a  tendency  to  the  generation  of  love.  If  I  had  time  I 
could  show  you  just  how  that  tendency  is  necessitated. 
But  look  a  little  further.  What  did  she  read  in  your 
gaze  when  your  eyes  met  ?  You  have  told  me  what  the 
gaze  was  saying — '  God  bless  you  !  You  are  giving  me 
the  very  help  I  need.'  Now  there  is  nothing  to  which  a 
fresh  young  heart  is  more  susceptible  than  it  is  to  the 
perception  of  such  boundless  gratitude, — nothing  that 
gives  a  livelier  joy  ;  and  just  in  proportion  to  the  keen- 
ness of  that  susceptibility,  is  the  tendency  of  such  a  heart 
to  pour  itself  out  toward  the  bestower  of  the  joy.  What 
Miss  Orlington  had  just  heard  about  your  parentage  was 
far  from  being  unimportaut.  Every  thing  was  in  your 
favor.  You  did  n't  observe  any  signs  of  worry  or  self- 
reproach  in  her  manner  afterwards,  did  you  ?  " 

"  No  ;  of  course  not.  Why  should  she  reproach  her- 
self ?  " 

"  Well,  if  her  faith  had  been  plighted  to  any  other  fel- 
low, she  would  have  been  in  a  peck  of  trouble, — charging 
herself  with  disloyalty,  and  every  thing  of  that  sort.  But, 
about  that  ten  thousand  dollars.  Had  n't  you  better 
borrow  the  money  and  close  up  the  purchase  of  Eller- 
mere  at  once  ?  You  can  give  ample  security.  Ten  dol- 
lars an  acre  would  be  an  absurdly  low  price  for  the 
land." 


84  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

"  That  would  n't  do.  It  would  n't  do  at  all.  Miss 
Orlington  has  had  the  burden  of  debt  pressing  down  on 
her  whole  life.  When  she  comes  to  me  that  burden  must 
be  lifted  off  and  thrown  away  forever.  Besides,  if  I  were 
thinking  only  of  myself,  I  should  not  venture  to  shoulder 
such  a  load.  The  necessity  of  paying  interest  would 
cripple  me  on  every  hand,  so  that  I  could  make  no  im- 
provements, and  would  convert  me  into  a  slave." 

"As  for  that  matter,  you  can  get  the  use  of  money 
without  paying  much  interest.  There  are  lots  of  us  fel- 
lows who  have  thousands  lying  idle  in  the  bank  ;  and  it 
would  be  a  comfort  to  us  to  have  it  doing  something 
for  somebody  if  we  were  not  getting  a  penny  for  the  use 
of  it." 

"  Now  Jorman,  don't  you  see  that,  if  I  am  going  to 
be  worthy  of  Martha  Orlington,  nothing  must  be  let  in 
that  would  eat  away  any  part  of  my  self-respect  ?  I  must 
be  a  man  amongst  men,  and  pay  for  what  I  have,  whether 
it  is  the  use  of  money,  or  whatever  it  is." 

"Well,  I  don't  see  that  any  thing  is  left  but  for  you  to 
assert  yourself  as  a  knowledge-compeller.  That  is  all 
there  is  in  the  intellectual  part  of  money-making,  any- 
way. The  solution  of  a  pecuniary  problem  consists  in 
the  ascertainment  of  truth  just  as  much  as  the  solution 
of  a  theological  problem  does.  The  essential  thing  is 
the  same  in  both  cases  ;  and,  if  a  man  will  keep  out  of 
ruts,  and  save  his  faculties  from  becoming  specialistic,  he 
can  go  from  metaphysics  to  money-making  with  all  ease. 
I  have  been  thinking,  since  we  had  our  talk  yesterday, 
that  I  should  like  to  get  a  few  new  sensations  by  joining 
you  in  making  a  little  money.  I  never  did  such  a  thing 
deliberately  in  my  life.  I  inherited  some  stores  and 
dwelling-houses  and  a  good  many  vacant  lots  in  the  city, 


A    RAINY    DAY.  85 

and  am  '  in  danger,'  as  the  old  Greeks  used  to  say,  of 
becoming  pretty  rich,  without  any  effort  on  my  part. 
When  my  tenants,  or  men  who  want  to  be  my  tenants, 
urge  me  to  repair,  or  tear  down  and  build  anew,  or  put  up 
a  house  on  a  vacant  lot,  I  turn  the  matter  over  to  my  archi- 
tect and  tell  him  to  go  ahead.  My  rents  and  dividends 
are  all  collected  by  my  bank  ;  and  when  my  balance  gets 
too  big,  I  go  and  ask  Job  Mollison  what  securities  I  shall 
buy.  But  now  I  have  a  fancy  for  the  peculiar  experi- 
ence a  fellow  gets  in  deliberate  money-making.  If  you 
will  do  the  knowledge-compelling,  I  will  furnish  the  cap- 
ital, and  we  will  divide  the  profits." 

I  found  it  difficult  to  respond  immediately,  but  said,  at 
length  :  "  The  truth  is,  Mr.  Jorman,  that  such  an  over- 
ture as  you  have  made  is  just  what  I  have  been  wishing 
for,  but  have  hardly  dared  to  hope  for.  An  old  friend  of 
our  family,  a  civil  engineer  by  the  name  of  Edward 
Sekell,  who  used  to  be  a  member  of  my  father's  church, 
and  has  always  shown  great  interest  in  us,  told  me  last 
spring  of  what  he  considered  an  excellent  opportunity. 
He  is  now  engaged  in  establishing  the  line  of  a  railroad 
in  Dakota,  with  its  eastern  terminus  on  a  branch  of  the 
Missouri  River.  He  says  that  the  road  is  sure  to  be  built 
next  summer,  that  an  important  town  is  sure  to  grow  up 
quickly  at  that  eastern  terminus,  and  that,  if  I  can  get 
hold  of  some  real  estate  there  before  the  actual  com.- 
mencement  of  grading,  I  can  quadruple  my  money  in  a 
short  time.  His  family  live  in  Chicago  and  I  can  ar- 
range through  them,  for  meeting  him  on  the  ground  be- 
fore he  comes  east  for  the  winter.  I  have  got  to  spend 
some  weeks  in  Nebraska  this  fall." 

"  That  looks  rather  promising.  I  '11  fit  you  out  with 
the  certified  checks  before  you  start  off  on  your  drum- 


86  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

ming  tour.  We  can  arrange  all  details  when  we  get  back 
to  New  York.  You  are  coming  in  to  see  me  pretty  often, 
you  know  ;  and  I  should  n't  wonder  if  we  should  man- 
age to  take  lunch  together  most  of  the  time.  But  I  want 
to  talk  with  you  on  one  or  two  other  points.  You  said  you 
could  n't  have  Miss  Orlington  take  all  the  light  out  of 
the  lives  of  her  parents  by  coming  North  to  live.  How 
about  your  taking  the  light  out  of  the  lives  of  your  mother 
and  sister  by  going  South  to  live  ?" 

"Why,  bless  your  soul  !  I  shall  take  them  with  me 
and  always  keep  them  near  me.  I  have  never  dreamed 
of  any  other  course.  I  shall  not  be  separated  from  them 
nearly  as  much  as  I  have  been  since  I  went  upon  the 
road.  The  change  will  be  of  great  benefit  to  my  mother, 
for  the  Northern  winters  are  getting  to  be  very  trying 
upon  her.  I  believe  her  life  will  be  prolonged  for  years 
by  a  removal  to  the  South." 

"  But  how  will  they  fit  into  the  society  of  that  region  ? 
Will  they  find  it  at  all  congenial  ?  I  read  a  great  deal 
about  the  difference  between  the  two  civilizations,  the 
Northern  civilization  and  the  Southern  civilization." 

"  Oh,  yes  ;  the  difference  is  prodigious.  The  Southern- 
ers are  apt  to  be  eating  hominy  when  we  are  eating  jonny- 
cake  ;  and  they  say  '  right  smart,'  while  we  are  saying 
'  grade  eel.'  " 

"  Well,  what  other  points  of  difference  have  you  ob- 
served ?" 

"  I  don't  think  of  any  other,  just  now.  Let  me  ask 
you  a  question,  Jorman.  I  have  been  led  into  a  good 
many  reflections  on  this  subject  in  the  last  year  or  two, 
and  I  want  to  see  if  you  think  the  notions  I  have  got  into 
my  head  are  all  nonsense.  The  question  is  this  :  What 
is  the  nature  of  the  principal  determining  element  of  a 


A    RAINY    DAY.  87 

civilization  ?  of  the  element  which  is  most  powerful  in 
determining  the  character  of  the  civilization  ?  Is  it 
material,  intellectual,  or  moral  ?" 

"  Oh,  it  is  moral  of  course.  The  paramount  thing  is 
the  ethical  ideal  of  a  community.  Such  an  ideal  always 
exists,  however  vague  its  outlines  may  be  ;  and  it  is  this 
that  governs  the  standard  of  respectability,  the  standard 
that  men  and  women  must  conform  to,  in  order  to  be  re- 
garded as  fit  for  decent  society.  This  standard  is  the 
regulator,  as  well  as  the  outgrowth,  of  public  opinion, 
and  it  has  so  much  to  do  with  the  practices  of  those  who 
aim  to  be  respected,  that  it  goes  far  toward  determining 
the  grade  of  popular  intelligence." 

"  Very  well.  Now,  suppose  that  the  ethical  ideals  of 
two  communities  are  derived  from  the  same  source, — 
from  an  open  Bible,  for  example  ;  can  there  be  a  radical 
difference  between  the  two  civilizations  ?  " 

"  No  ;  not  a  radical  difference.  Other  things  are 
operative  to  a  certain  extent.  Physical  causes  have  an 
obvious  influence.  Historical  experiences  leave  their 
traces  for  some  time.  Governmental  institutions  are  not 
without  their  effect.  But,  in  comparison  with  the  ethical 
ideal,  all  these  causes  are  very  insignificant.  You  must  re- 
member, however,  that  your  open  Bible  has  not  received 
the  same  interpretation  at  all  points.  The  Southerners 
used  to  find  the  justification  of  slavery  in  it ;  and  that 
institution  is  supposed  to  have  had  a  momentous  bearing 
on  the  character  of  the  ethical  ideal  itself.  Perhaps  you 
never  read  the  great  speech  on  the  '  Barbarism  of  Slav- 
ery.' It  was  delivered  before  your  time." 

"  I  am  quite  familiar  with  that  speech,  and  was 
brought  up  to  consider  it  unpardonable  heresy  to  ques- 
tion the  doctrine  presented  in  it.  But  you  can  find  out 


* 


88^  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

in  ten  minutes  that  there  never  was  any  possibility  of 
that  doctrine's  being  true.  You  told  me,  the  other  day, 
that  the  most  important  office  of  the  imagination  was  to 
fit  us  for  doing  justice  to  our  fellow-men,  by  putting  our- 
selves in  their  places  and  thus  getting  an  experience  of 
the  effects  of  their  conditions  and  surroundings.  Now 
make  yourself  the  owner  of  a  hundred  slaves,  old  and 
young,  male  and  female,  sick  and  well.  I  must  go  and 
get  a  match." 

I  went  into  the  office  and  stayed  there  several  min- 
utes, to  allow  time  for  a  fair  trial  of  the  experiment  I 
had  suggested.  When  I  returned  and  handed  Jorman  a 
cigar,  he  looked  up  and  exclaimed  : 

"  By  George  !  I  wonder  why  I  never  tried  this  on  be- 
fore. My  heart  is  as  flabby  as  a  chunk  of  macerated 
tripe.  Internally  I  am  all  mush.  I  have  put  an  old 
man  to  bed  and  sent  for  the  doctor,  licked  an  overseer 
for  cuffing  a  woman,  and  had  a  high  old  time  seeing  the 
little  niggers  skip  and  caper." 

"  Unquestionably,"  I  said,  "  there  were  cruel  slave- 
holders to  be  found,  just  as  there  are  cruel  husbands 
and  fathers.  Mrs.  Stowe  could  find  a  Legree  among 
Southern  slave-drivers  as  easily  as  Shelley  could  find  a 
Cenci  among  Italian  noblemen.  I  have  taken  great 
pains  to  collect  information  on  this  point  ;  and  the  testi- 
mony is  uniform  to  the  effect  that,  under  the  old  order 
of  things,  if  a  master  was  cruel  to  his  slaves  he  was  as 
sure  to  lose  caste  in  society  as  he  would  have  been  if  he 
had  engaged  in  sheep-stealing.  There  are  reasons 
enough  for  thanking  God  that  slavery  no  longer  exists 
in  this  country  ;  but  all  that  is  said  about  its  having  had 
a  permanently  debasing  effect  on  Southern  civilization 
is  unmitigated  bosh.  When  men  still  insist  on  that  view, 


A    RAINY    DAY.  89 

it  is  hardly  unfair  to  infer  that  their  own  hearts  tell  them 
that  they  themselves  would  be  converted  into  devils  by 
the  possession  of  unrestricted  power  over  a  flock  of 
human  beings." 

"  I  guess  there  has  been  something  too  much  of  that 
a  priori  reasoning  about  the  effects  of  slavery,  the  war, 
emancipation,  and  all  those  things,  on  the  characters  of 
Southern  men.  The  Baconian  method  would  be  much 
more  reliable.  The  trouble  is  that  when  we  hate  a  class 
of  men  it  is  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world  to  make  out  a 
case  against  them.  We  pick  out  this  and  that  particular 
from  their  circumstances,  and  shut  out  of  sight  all  par- 
ticulars having  an  opposite  tendency,  and  thus  make  it 
appear  that  tremendous  debasing  forces  are  at  work 
without  restraint.  There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  that. 
Hatred  of  the  slave-holders  used  to  be  a  very  vehement 
passion.  For  copious  and  persistent  malignity  the  out- 
pourings of  some  of  the  old  Abolitionists  were  never 
matched  in  America.  It  is  funny  to  see  how  some  of  the 
literary  exquisites  have  taken  to  apotheosizing  those 
men.  At  the  same  time  they  are  almost  broken-hearted 
over  the  downfall  of  Daniel  Webster.  Perhaps  they  will 
set  about  refuting  the  reasoning  of  the  7th  of  March 
speech  one  of  these  days — the  grandest  speech  of  the 
century.  If  these  little  fellows  could  grow  pretty  fast 
for  about  two  thousand  years  they  might  possibly  get 
within  gunshot  of  old  Daniel's  standpoint.  It  is  a  very 
fine  thing  for  nice,  little,  smooth-skinned  mice  to  sit  in 
judgment  on  shaggy-maned  lions." 

We  strolled  into  the  parlor  after  we  had  finished  our 
cigars,  and  found  a  Dr.  Margum,  a  man  of  some  note  in 
the  scientific  world,  who  had  arrived  the  preceding  day, 
engaged  in  glorifying  the  achievements  of"  modern 


go  ,  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

science.  Soon  after  we  had  seated  ourselves  this  gen- 
tleman remarked  : 

"  I  am  not  much  of  a  worshipper  ;  but,  if  I  were  going 
into  any  thing  of  that  sort,  I  think  I  should  choose  a 
bunch  of  the  gray  matter  of  the  human  brain  for  the 
object  of  my  devotions." 

Both  Professor  Ardick  and  Dr.  Ingleman  were  pres- 
ent, but  no  one  seemed  disposed  to  take  up  the  gauntlet 
which  had  been  thrown  down.  Mrs.  Erdby  looked  ear- 
nestly from  one  to  another,  evidently  feeling  that  some 
reply  ought  to  be  made.  Finally,  as  the  silence  contin- 
ued, she  asked,  with  some  appearance  of  embarrassment : 

"  Would  not  that  be  something  like  Fetichism  ?  " 

"  You  have  hit  the  point  exactly,"  Jorman  exclaimed. 
"  The  fundamental  thing  in  Fetichism  is  the  ascription 
to  material  objects  of  power  to  produce  effects  which  lie 
entirely  outside  of  the  range  of  physical  force, — effects 
the  production  of  which  by  physical  force  is  utterly  in- 
conceivable. Some  of  our  scientists,  in  their  wonderful 
progress,  have  managed  to  fetch  up  at  the  lowest  stage 
of  savagism,  so  far  as  this  matter  is  concerned." 

"  I  see  that  you  have  not  much  respect  for  modern 
thought,"  said  Dr.  Margum. 

"  Oh,  yes,"  Jorman  replied,  in  his  most  serious  manner. 
"  I  am  very  much  obliged  to  modern  thought.  I  used 
to  have  a  great  deal  of  trouble  with  my  feet,  till  one  of 
the  advanced  thinkers  of  the  nineteenth  century  worked 
his  way,  more  or  less  laboriously,  to  the  conclusion  that 
broad-soled  shoes  would  be  a  boon  to  the  Simiadic  race. 
Since  that  time  my  experience  of  pedal  comfort  has  been 
extensive." 

"  You  would  put  the  immortal  scientists  of  the  age, 
then,  on  a  level  with  the  shoemakers  ?  " 


A    RAINY    DAY.  9! 

"  Not  precisely.  I  am  not  aware  that  the  shoemakers, 
in  view  of  their  undeniable  progress,  have  arrogated  the 
title  of  thinkers  par  excellence.  They  have  recognized 
certain  limitations.  They  have  tacitly  admitted  that 
their  chosen  pursuit  has  given  them  no  special  qualifica- 
tions for  prancing  around,  shouting  '  Vent,  vidi,  vici, '  in 
the  domain  of  metaphysics,  or  in  that  of  theology.  To 
speak  seriously,  the  achievements  of  human  thought,  in 
this  century,  have  been  absolutely  amazing.  It  has  rev- 
olutionized the  conditions  of  life  throughout  the  civilized 
world.  It  has  brought  the  ends  of  the  earth  together. 
It  has  wrought  stupendous  results  in  the  affairs  of  na- 
tions. It  has  disclosed  thousands  of  momentous  truths 
concerning  the  pre-requisites  to  human  welfare,  and  has 
filled  the  world  with  grand  conceptions.  It  is  no  more 
than  honest  to  say  that  the  votaries  of  physical  science, 
within  their  sphere,  have  kept  fully  abreast  of  their 
fellow-workers  in  other  departments  of  intellectual 
achievement." 

"  Well,"  said  the  scientist,  "  if  thought  is  such  an 
almost  omnipotent  agent,  what  shall  we  say  of  that  which 
generates  thought, — the  gray  matter  of  the  brain  ?  " 

"  To  be  sure  !  "  said  Jorman.  "  I  did  n't  think  of 
that.  We  can  see  the  gray  matter  of  the  brain  generat- 
ing thought,  emotion,  affection,  and  desire,  twisting  them 
together  and  making  them  interpenetrate  in  ten  thousand 
different  ways,  just  as  distinctly  as  we  can  see  the  sound 
of  a  flute  generating  the  color  of  a  rose.  The  power  to 
discern  potentialities,  and  thus  to  trace  lines  of  causa- 
tion, which  is  the  prime  factor  in  all  scientific  research, 
comes  into  play  here  after  a  wonderful  fashion.  There 
is  almost  enough  in  the  mere  name  of  the  gray  matter  of 
the  brain  to  account  for  all  the  Iliads  and  Hamlets  and 


92  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

Nova  Organa  and  Federal  Constitutions  that  were  ever 
produced.  You  have  kept  track  of  the  recent  discover- 
ies of  the  Ganglioscopists,  have  you  not,  Professor  Ar- 
dick  ?  " 

"  I  am  not  very  familiar  with  them,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Then,"  Jorman  resumed,  in  his  lecturer's  manner, 
"  perhaps  you  will  be  interested  in  hearing  something 
about  their  proceedings.  In  the  first  place,  they  take  a 
sheet  of  mica,  and  keep  it  in  a  bath  of  bi-trinkate  of 
squizzleum  for  three  days,  seven  hours,  and  four  minutes. 
This  makes  it  perfectly  transparent,  and  so  flexible  that 
it  can  be  put  into  any  desired  shape.  Then  they  get 
their  subject  and  take  a  measurement  of  his  head,  pre- 
paratory to  making  a  mica  cap  which  will  fit  neatly  over 
his  brain.  The  next  step  is  to  keep  their  subject  reading 
Emerson  and  trying  to  discover  a  consecution  of  thought 
for  about  nine  hours.  This  brings  on  a  collapse  by 
which  the  ganglia  are  entirely  separated  from  the  skull. 
Then  they  quickly  saw  the  skull,  remove  the  top  of  it, 
and  fit  on  the  cap.  It  takes  but  a  few  minutes  after- 
wards, as  they  have  every  thing  ready,  to  fit  the  top  of 
the  skull  on  again  with  a  hinge  and  a  little  clasp  ;  and, 
after  that,  they  can  open  it  up  or  shut  it  down  at  pleas- 
ure. Of  course  they  have  to  allow  time  for  the  subject 
to  recover  from  what  they  call  the  '  Emersonic  collapse'  ; 
but  their  scientific  eagerness  is  security  against  any  un- 
necessary delay.  When  the  great  hour  arrives,  a  flood  of 
light  is  turned  on  ;  the  subject  is  put  in  a  little  circular 
pit,  with  a  demonstrator  at  his  side  ;  the  other  Ganglio- 
scopists sit  on  circular  seats,  at  a  proper  elevation,  with 
opera-glasses  in  their  hands,  and  the  demonstrator  turns 
back  the  skull-top.  Then  the  subject  is  made  to  take  off 
his  coat  and  go  to  thinking  with  all  his  might.  The 


A    RAINY    DAY.  93 

spectacle  is  intensely  interesting.  At  first  there  is  a  lit- 
tle bubbling  and  sputtering.  Then  one  thought  bobs  up 
here  and  another  there.  Then  a  dozen  more  spring  up 
almost  at  the  same  instant  ;  and  they  approach  and  re- 
cede, form  themselves  into  chains,  and  then  go  all  apart 
again.  The  imagination  sets  up  one  picture  after  an- 
other ;  the  memory  begins  to  drag  out  old  links  of  asso- 
ciation ;  one  emotion  chases  another  about  ;  conflicting 
passions  come  into  view  ;  conscientious  scruples  shoot 
up  here  and  there,  and  it  looks  for  a  while  as  if  they 
were  going  to  make  a  regular  Walpurgis  night  of  it." 

"  I  believe,"  said  the  Professor,  "  that  they  have  some 
device  for  drawing  off  those  mental  phenomena." 

"  Oh,  yes  ;  they  have  found  what  they  call  the  '  Trans- 
fusion of  Mentality  '  entirely  feasible.  They  fit  stop- 
cocks in  the  skulls  of  two  'persons  and  connect  them 
with  a  flexible  tube.  It  is  necessary  to  have  two  opera- 
tors. One  of  them  puts  his  lips  to  the  ear  of  the  fellow 
who  is  to  receive  the  phenomena,  and  sings,  in  a  sooth- 
ing way  : 

"  '  By  lollo,  baby-bunting, 
Daddy's  gone  a-hunting,' 

or  something  of  that  sort,  and  the  other  one  sets  the 
brain  of  his  man  to  generating  the  phenomena." 

"  But  have  n't  they  some  way  of  bottling  the  phenome- 
na so  as  to  make  them  available  in  case  of  need  ?  " 

"  Some  of  them  can  be  bottled  up.  The  last  time  I 
was  present  at  an  experimental  session  they  secured 
several  good-sized  flasks  of  anger.  It  was  necessary,  of 
course,  to  make  the  subject  very  mad  ;  and,  as  he  was  a 
Democrat,  like  my  friend  Nolly  here,  the  demonstrator 
expressed  the  opinion  that  it  was  possible  for  a  man  to 


94  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

die  a  Republican  and  go  to  heaven  after  all.  They  were 
a  little  slow  in  opening  the  stop-cock,  and  there  was 
such  a  pressure  on  the  mica  cap  that  I  was  afraid  there 
would  be  an  explosion.  It  is  thought  that  this  bottled 
anger  may  be  made  to  take  the  place,  in  some  cases,  of 
what  is  called  '  Dutch  courage.'  " 

"  Those  experiments  are  very  interesting,"  said  Dr. 
Ingleman  ;  "  but  I  do  not  see  that  they  fully  account  for 
the  generation  of  thought.  According  to  your  state- 
ment, it  is  necessary  to  induce  the  subject  to  exert  his 
thinking  faculties,  just  as  you  could  induce  me  to  twist 
and  interlock  my  fingers.  Now,  what  is  that  power 
which  wills  the  activity  of  the  gray  matter  ?  "  • 

"  That  is  the  conundrum,"  said  Jorman. 

Dr.  Margum  had  taken  all  this  in  a  very  good  part, 
and  had  laughed  heartily  at  some  of  the  grotesque  con- 
ceits. But  ha  now  said  : 

"It  is  a  very  easy  matter  to  ridicule  a  scientific  theory, 
but  quite  another  thing  to  refute  it.  If  you  will  apply 
'Occam's  razor,'  or  what  Sir  Wm.  Hamilton  calls  the 
'  Law  of  Paicimony,'  you  will  see  that  you  are  shut  up  to 
our  doctrine  concerning  the  generation  of  mental  phe- 
nomena. So  long  as  there  is  a  known  cause  to  which  a 
given  class  of  effects  can  possibly  be  ascribed,  it  is  un- 
philosophical  and  unscientific  to  postulate  an  additional 
cause.  Now,  the  human  brain  is  a  known  cause.  Its 
wonderful  structure  has  been  described  again  and  again. 
All  the  thinking  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge  is  con- 
ditioned on  the  activity  of  the  brain,  and  I  defy  you  to 
prove  the  impossibility  of  the  origination  of  thought  and 
all  the  other  effects  which  go  under  the  name  of  mental 
phenomena,  by  this  organ." 

Jorman  replied  :     "  I  heard  all  that  several  years  ago, 


A    RAINY    DAY.  95 

and  you  must  excuse  me  when  I  say  it  is  several  years 
since  I  last  tried  to  have  a  particle  of  patience  with  such 
talk.  It  is  scientific  to  rest  your  case  on  a  demand  for 
the  proof  of  impossibilities, — is  it  ?  Without  a  particle 
of  affirmative  evidence  you  will  hold  me  responsible  for 
a  murder  until  I  prove  the  impossibility  of  my  having 
committed  that  crime.  The  prosecutor  arraigns  the 
accused,  reads  his  indictment,  and  rests  his  case  ;  and, 
unless  the  defence  can  prove  the  guilt  of  the  accused  to 
be  impossible,  a  verdict  of  '  guilty  '  must  be  rendered. 
This  is  '  Modern  Thought.'  If  you  could  get  your  doc- 
trine universally  adopted  you  would  put  an  immediate 
stop  to  all  search  for  hidden  causes.  Name  any  effect 
of  an  unknown  cause  that  you  choose,  and  I  will  point 
out  a  known  cause  which  you  cannot  prove  to  be  in- 
capable of  producing  that  effect.  Suppose  that  Newton, 
at  the  beginning  of  his  career,  had  reasoned  in  this  way : 
Volition  is  a  known  cause  of  motion  ;  it  cannot  be  proved 
impossible  for  the  heavenly  bodies  to  move  of  their  own 
free  wills  ;  hence  it  is  unscientific  to  assume  the  existence 
of  any  other  cause  of  their  motions.  But  come  back  to 
the  generation  of  thought.  I  will  say  that  the  throbbing 
heart  is  a  known  cause,  and  that  all  the  thinking  of  which 
we  have  any  knowledge  is  conditioned  on  the  activity  of 
this  organ:7  1  will  appeal  to  universal  experience  in  sup- 
port of  the  assertion  that  whenever  thoughts  and  emo- 
tions are  generated  with  unusual  rapidity,  there  is  un- 
usual force  in  the  pulsations  of  the  heart.  Now,  how 
are  you  going  to  prove  the  impossibility  of  the  generation 
of  thoughts  and  emotions  by  this  mighty  organ  ?  " 

"  You  hold,  then,  that  Sir  Wm.  Hamilton  was  very 
stupid  in  recognizing  the  law  of  Parcimony." 

"  I  am  very  far  from  doing  so.     The  legitimate  use  of 


96^  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

that  law  is  as  beneficial  as  the  abuse  of  it  is  pernicious. 
It  calls  for  a  thorough  scrutiny  of  all  the  known  causes 
which  have  any  relation  to  the  effects  in  question,  and 
forbids  us  to  assume  the  existence  of  an  additional  cause 
until  such  a  scrutiny  has  failed  to  disclose  the  potentiality 
which  we  are  seeking.  This  is  the  true  method  in  all 
scientific  and  philosophical  accounting  for  phenomena." 

"  Well,  setting  that  point  aside,  have  you  read 
Maudsley  and  Bain  on  the  relation  of  cerebral  conditions 
to  mental  activity  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes  ;  I  have  tried  to  understand  what  they  have  to 
say.  Of  course  there  is  such  a  relation  ;  it  is  an  in- 
evitable incident  of  the  incarnation  of  the  mind.  But 
let  me  drop  the  phraseology  of  the  metaphysicians,  and, 
instead  of  speaking  of  the  mind,  let  me  speak  of  myself. 
It  was  ordered  that  I  should  commence  my  existence  as 
an  inhabitant  of  a  corporeal  organism.  This  organism 
constitutes  my  immediate  environment.  But  I  am  to  be 
in  correspondence  with  the  external  world, — to  act  upon 
it  and  to  be  acted  upon  by  it.  Hence,  this  environment 
is  furnished  with  organs  through  which  the  realities  of 
the  external  world  can  aid  my  development,  and  organs 
through  which  I  can  work  out  certain  infinitesimal 
effects  upon  that  world.  Moreover,  I  am  commissioned 
to  provide  for  the  needs  of  my  corporeal  organism.  For 
all  these  reasons  I  am  made  susceptible  to  physical  sen- 
sations, by  which  my  pleasures  and  pains  and,  conse- 
quently, my  desires  and  affections  are  largely  modified. 
By  reason  of  the  organic  union  of  my  powers,  these  emo- 
tions and  impulses  are  constantly  influencing  the  activity 
of  my  intellectual  faculties.  But  my  brain  is  much  more 
than  the  organ  through  which  I  experience  influences 
from  the  external  world  :  it  is  the  organ  through  which 


A    RAINY    DAY. 


97X 


I  dictate  the  actions  of  all  my  members,  and  aim  at  all 
the  effects  which  I  try  to  produce.  Of  necessity,  there- 
fore, my  internal  experience  and  the  efficiency  of  my 
powers  are  largely  dependent  on  the  condition  of  my 
brain.  We  have  only  to  assume  that  the  universal  human 
consciousness  of  selfhood, — the  consciousness  of  a  spirit- 
ual self, — is  not  a  lying  consciousness,  in  order  to  account 
for  all  mental  phenomena.  To  repel  that  assumption 
and,  at  the  same  time,  to  predicate  of  a  collection  of 
matter  what  the  scientists  themselves  admit  to  be  an  ab- 
solutely unthinkable  exertion  of  physical  force,  seems  to 
me  to  be  the  most  amazing  vagary  within  the  possibilities 
of  the  human  intellect." 

"  I  suppose,  of  course,  that  you  think  the  doctrine  of 
evolution  is  not  orthodox." 

"  My  friends  here  are  inclined  to  smile  at  your  talking 
to  me  about  orthodoxy.  They  are  regretfully  aware  that 
I  do  not  fully  share  their  views  as  to  revealed  religion.  I 
believe  that  the  process  of  evolution  is  a  stupendous 
reality  ;  but  I  believe  that  it  dqn't  account  for  every 
thing.  There  are  ten  thousand  lines  of  causation  with 
which  it  has  nothing  to  do.  It  is  the  old  story  of  riding 
a  hobby  to  death.  The  fact  of  Herbert  Spencer's  be- 
coming enamoured  of  evolution  and  determining  to  explain 
the  universe  and  all  the  modes  of  existence  embraced  in 
it,  by  tracing  that  process,  has  cost  the  world  the  services 
of  a  magnificent  and  industrious  intellect  for  thirty  years. 
I  am  glad  he  has  exhibited  himself  in  some  spheres  where 
men,  who  do  not  call  themselves  philosophers,  have  done 
some  thinking.  He  has  taken  occasion  to  show  the  world 
what  comes  of  an  able  man's  keeping  himself  bound, 
hand  and  foot,  to  a  hobby.  Any  village  preacher  can  put 
him  to  school  in  ethical  science  ;  any  village  lawyer  can 


g8  .  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

teach  him  his  a,  b,  c's  in  statesmanship,  and  any  village 
boor  can  see  the  absurdity  of  his  claiming  to  know  that 
the  Unknowable  is  destitute  of  all  the  attributes  which 
every  man  of  common  sense  ascribes  to  Deity." 

After  a  while  the  conversation  drifted  to  the  subject 
of  heredity  ;  and  Dr.  Margum  and  Mr.  Jorman  found 
themselves  in  substantial  agreement  on  several  points. 
Nothing  was  said,  of  which  I  thought  it  worth  while  to 
make  a  record,  until  the  Doctor  remarked  : 

"  It  is  often  observed  that  a  perverse  tendency  is  apt 
to  acquire  a  certain  momentum  in  passing  from  one  gen- 
eration to  another  ;  so  that  a  vicious  strain,  which  has 
occasioned  but  a  single  lapse  in  the  life  of  the  parent, 
may  manifest  itself  as  the  predominant  force  in  the  life 
of  the  child." 

Jorman  assented  to  this  and,  a  moment  afterward, 
sprang  from  his  seat  and  began  to  walk  nervously  about 
the  room.  He  returned  at  length,  to  the  Doctor's  side 
and  said  to  him  : 

"  It  is  important  to  remember  that  the  characters  of 
men  sometimes  undergo  very  great  changes  and,  therefore, 
that  the  tendencies  inherited  must  depend  very  largely 
on  the  period  from  which  the  parental  relation  dates." 

With  this  remark  Jorman  turned  away,  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  indicate  that  the  conversation  was  ended  so  far 
as  he  was  concerned  ;  and  we  soon  left  the  room.  At  the 
first  opportunity  he  called  me  aside  and  asked  excitedly  : 

"  Did  you  observe  any  thing  remarkable  a  little  while 
ago  ? " 

"  I  noticed  that  you  became  very  fidgety  all  at  once," 
I  replied. 

"  Then  you  did  n't  observe  the  cause  of  my  excite- 
ment ?  Why  it  beat  any  thing  that  I  ever  witnessed  in 


A    RAINY    DAY.  99 

my  life.  Just  after  I  had  assented  to  the  Doctor's  last 
remark,  I  happened  to  glance  at  Serena  as  she  was  sit- 
ting there  on  the  sofa.  She  had  her  arm  around  that 
boy  of  hers  and  was  pressing  him  to  her  side,  while  she 
leaned  a  little  forward,  as  if  to  shield  him  ;  and  her  face 
wore  such  an  expression  of  mingled  suffering  and  defi- 
ance as  no  mortal  ever  dreamed  of.  If  an  actress  could 
present  just  that  appearance,  in  a  scene  where  she  would 
have  to  protect  a  child  from  some  incalculable  evil,  it 
would  be  the  greatest  histrionic  stroke  of  the  century. 
Serena's  husband  became  a  villain  before  he  died.  There 
is  no  question  about  that.  He  may  not  have  made  a 
public  revelation  of  himself  in  that  light  ;  but  she  knows 
that  he  was  a  villain.  A  great  many  women  are  loaded 
down  with  a  secret  knowledge  of  the  unworthiness  of 
their  husbands  ;  and,  oh,  how  bravely  they  struggle  on  to 
have  it  appear  to  the  world  that  their  husbands  are  mak- 
ing them  happy  !  There  is  something  very  tragic  about 
that,  as  Carlyle  would  say.  You  see  now  that  Serena, 
with  her  intellectual  alertness,  made  an  immediate  appli- 
cation of  what  the  Doctor  had  said  and  I  had  assented 
to.  She  saw  an  appalling  danger  to  her  boy.  She  is  one 
of  that  high  order  of  beings  to  whom  moral  deformity 
presents  itself  as  the  hugest  of  all  calamities  ;  and  her 
maternal  love  is  so  mighty  that,  in  the  re-action  of  her 
heart  against  the  suffering  caused  by  that  terrible  pros- 
pect, she  felt  herself  strong  enough  to  tear  the  laws  of 
nature  into  shreds.  You  don't  wonder  that  I  was  ex- 
cited ;  do  you  ?  I  despaired  at  first  of  finding  any  thing 
to  say  that  would  do  her  any  good.  But  I  happened  to 
hit  on  that  thought  about  characters  undergoing  changes, 
and  the  relation  of  inherited  qualities  to  the  period  of 
birth  ;  and  it  was  a  good  strike.  Her  immediate  relief 


100  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

was  very  obvious,  and  she  gave  me  a  quick  glance  of 
gratitude.  But  the  trouble  was,  that  she  caught  me  ob- 
serving her.  She  evinced  a  momentary  confusion,  and 
then  I  could  see  that  her  thoughts  were  moving  like 
lightning.  There  is  no  doubt  at  all  but  what  she  under- 
stands all  about  the  cause  of  my  fidgetiness,  and  the  ob- 
ject with  which  I  made  that  last  remark.  This  will  give 
rise  to  a  little  embarrassment  for  both  of  us.  Well,  I  'm 
very  glad  the  fellow  did  n't  reveal  himself  to  her  as  a 
scamp  till  after  the  boy  was  born." 

Mr.  Jorman  recurred  to  this  subject  repeatedly  in  the 
course  of  the  afternoon,  and  seemed  unable  to  think  of 
any  thing  else.  We  both  observed  that  Mrs.  Erdby's 
meditations  were  far  from  clothing  her  countenance  with 
its  customary  signs  of  cheerfulness,  though  we  carefully 
avoided  the  appearance  of  watching  her.  She  took  her 
usual  seat  at  the  piano  in  the  evening,  and  seemed  to 
have  recovered  her  habitual  frame  of  mind  before  we 
separated  for  the  night. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

EVENTS    OF    THE    AUTUMN. 

nPHE  time  came  for  the  breaking  up  of  our  little  cir- 
•*•  cle.  We  were  to  go  our  several  ways  and,  amid 
the  duties  and  experiences  of  our  respective  spheres,  to 
become  more  or  less  non-existent  to  each  other.  But 
I  felt,  for  my  own  part,  that  the  existence  of  some  of  the 
persons  with  whom  I  had  been  associated  would  always 
have  much  significance  for  me.  It  seemed  to  me 
that  my  few  weeks  in  that  quiet  village  had  yielded  me 
a  knowledge  of  my  race  which  I  had  failed  to  gather 
from  my  wide  intercourse  with  men  as  a  commercial 
traveller.  My  pursuit  had  afforded  me  the  amplest  op- 
portunities for  observing  ways  of  life  and  characteristic 
appearances  among  all  classes  of  my  countrymen,  as  well 
as  for  studying  the  external  peculiarities  of  a  multitude 
of  individuals  ;  and  these  outward  appurtenances  of  hu- 
man life  had  been  the  chief  part  of  my  world.  But  I 
had  now  been  led  to  the  contemplation  of  several  differ- 
ent styles  of  inner  life,  which  I  regarded  as  typical ;  and 
the  world  took  on  a  deeper  meaning  for  me.  In  view  of 
my  relations  to  mankind  at  large,  there  was  a  certain 
solemnity  in  my  feelings,  of  which  I  had  never  before 
been  conscious. 

Just  before  our  departure,  Mr.   Jorman  managed,  by 
touching  on  what  seemed  to  be  an  entirely  unrelated 


102  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

subject,  to  elicit  from  Professor  Ardick  some  very  strong 
remarks  on  the  feasibility  of  counteracting  constitutional 
proclivities  by  educational  watch-care.  The  conversation 
took  place  in  Mrs.  Erdby's  presence  ;  but  the  Professor 
was  not  at  all  aware  of  having  been  drawn  into  a  dis- 
course for  her  benefit.  Jorman  was  highly  elated  over 
the  success  of  his  exploit  and  said  to  me,  after  we  had 
started  : 

"  I  was  very  sure  that  I  could  set  Old  Delicious  off  on 
his  hobby  ;  and  I  don't  believe  Serena  caught  me  at  it. 
I  knew  it  wouldn't  do  for  me  to  look  at  her  and  see  how 
she  was  taking  it,  and  I  avoided  doing  so,  though  it 
seemed  like  tying  my  optic  nerves  in  a  double  bow-knot. 
There  was  '  right  smart '  of  good  sense  in  the  talk,  as 
your  prospective  brother-in-law  would  say.  To  be  sure, 
there  is  some  timber  that  wont  make  shingles,  anyway  ; 
but  if  a  stick  is  too  gnarly  for  shingles,  it  can  be  con- 
verted into  first-rate  wedges.  You  must  be  very  careful 
in  your  methods,  if  you  are  going  to  overcome  an  in- 
herited proclivity.  You  must  n't  keep  banging  away  at 
the  proclivity  itself  all  the  time  ;  that  is  more  likely  to 
keep  it  constantly  excited,  than  it  is  to  have  any  other  ef- 
fect. What  you  want  to  do,  is  to  stimulate  counteract- 
ing tendencies.  There  is  a  certain  amount,  and  only  a 
certain  amount,  of  force  in  a  boy  ;  and  if  you  get  all  of 
it  to  flowing  in  the  right  channels,  there  will  be  none  of- 
it  left  for  the  wrong  channels.  But  you  have  got  to  be 
particular  about  the  kind  of  stimulants  you  apply  in 
order  to  counteract  a  perverse  tendency.  Many  parents 
keep  their  sons  from  becoming  intemperate  by  making 
them  avaricious  ;  and  some  of  these  boys,  instead  of  be- 
coming drunkards  and  paying  the  greater  part  of  the 
penalty  themselves,  get  to  be  hard-hearted  and  prosper- 


EVENTS   OF    THE    AUTUMN.  103 

ous  scoundrels  preying  on  their  fellow-men  all  their  lives. 
I  believe  your  book  says  something  about  overcoming 
evil  with  good.  There  is  a  nice  touch  of  philosophy 
there,  whether  the  writer  saw  it  or  not  ;  and  it  might  well 
be  taken  for  a  key-note  in  the  matter  of  juvenile  train- 
ing. Well,  I  don't  think  the  discourse  of  Old  Delicious 
will  do  Serena  any  particular  hurt.  I  guess  she  will  get 
considerable  comfort  out  of  it  ;  and  it  will  help  her  to 
work  hopefully  against  her  boy's  coming  to  harm  on  ac- 
count of  any  streak  of  scampery  that  he  may  have  in- 
herited from  his  father.  I  wish  we  could  get  a  few  hints 
to  her  about  a  careful  selection  of  the  tendencies  to  be 
stimulated." 

"  I  expect  to  meet  her  in  Florida  next  winter,"  I  said. 
"  She  told  me  that  she  was  already  engaged  in  corre- 
spondence with  a  view  to  renting  a  little  cottage  at 
Jacksonville.  She  has  a  maiden  sister  whose  lungs  are 
delicate,  and  she  thinks  a  winter  in  Florida  would  bene- 
fit Charley.  Arrangements  are  already  made  for  me  to 
take  a  part  of  that  State  into  my  field." 

"  Do  you  know,"  Jorman  asked,  after  meditating  a  few 
moments,  "  that  I  have  more  than  half  a  mind  to  take 
that  Southern  trip  with  you  ?  I  can't  think  of  any  bet- 
ter way  of  seeing  the  South.  You  will  be  stopping  at  a 
good  many  places,  and  while  you  are  busy  with  your 
customers  I  can  be  interviewing  my  fellow-citizens  of 
African  descent  and  making  a  note  of  the  various  re- 
grettable features  of  the  Southern  civilization.  Perhaps 
I  can  fix  up  some  material  that  will  be  highly  prized  by 
the  leaders  of  my  party.  If  serviceable  facts  happen  to 
be  lacking,  there  will  be  all  the  more  work  for  my  imagi- 
nation ;  and  I  am  in  danger  of  letting  that  faculty  get  a 
little  rusty,  anyway," 


104  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

My  first  evening  at  home  was  full  of  delight  for  me. 
The  words  of  Cardinal  Wolsey  : 

"  I  feel  my  heart  new-opened," 

recurred  to  my  mind,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  my  ca- 
pacity for  filial  and  brotherly  affection  had  been  greatly 
enlarged.  For  the  first  time  in  several  years  I  took  my 
mother  fully  into  my  confidence.  I  "  told  her  all  my 
heart,"  and  I  saw  something  of  the  extent  to  which  I 
had  deprived  myself  of  help,  and  denied  expansion  to 
the  lives  of  my  mother  and  sister  by  my  former  habit 
of  internal  solitariness.  As  Dolly  was  about  to  retire 
she  said  : 

"  I  've  changed  my  mind.  I  said  we  would  n't  divide 
you  up  with  anybody.  But  no  ;  I  have  not  changed  my 
mind  either,  because  that  is  not  the  way  it  goes.  You  're 
going  to  be  ours  more  than  ever,  and  Martha  is  going  to 
be  ours  too." 

"  If  I  can  only  get  her,"  I  said. 

"  If  you  can  only  get  her.  Just  as  if  there  was  any 
doubt  about  that.  How  ridiculous  !  " 

"  I  think,"  said  my  mother,  after  Dolly  had  left  us, 
"  that  it  looks  very  hopeful  for  you.  I  can  see  that  she 
is  just  the  right  sort  of  a  young  lady  to  appreciate  you. 
The  only  danger  is  that  some  one  else  will  come  in  and 
win  her  heart  before  you  think  it  would  be  right  to  avow 
your  affection.  I  should  think  you  would  be  terribly 
afraid  of  that.  Doj^'t  it  seem  to  you  sometimes  that  all 
the  young  men  in  that  region  must  be  going  crazy  for 
her  ?  Still,  I  have  no  doubt  that  she  is  interested  in  you 
now,  though  she  has  never  whispered  such  a  thing  to 
herself.  And  then,  you  need  n't  think  that  you  have  not 
made  any  thing  like  a  declaration  to  her.  She  is  not 


EVENTS    OF    THE    AUTUMN.  105 

entirely  in  the  dark.  The  change  in  your  looks  and 
manner,  after  your  heart  went  out  to  her,  did  n't  escape 
her  notice.  And  I  am  so  glad  of  that  talk  about  Eller- 
mere,  and  of  her  knowing  that  you  had  taken  so  much 
pains  to  inquire  into  the  ownership  and  the  price,  after 
she  had  spoken  so  warmly  about  the  '  dear  old  place.' 
Of  course  she  don't  allow  these  things  to  stay  up  in  her 
mind  like  every-day  matters,  but  they  have  a  little  nest 
away  down  in  her  heart,  and  she  would  be  surprised  to 
know  how  much  they  have  to  do  with  the  way  the  whole 
world  looks  to  her." 

After  a  period  of  silence  the  dear  lady  asked  :  "  Is  n't 
there  something  almost  presumptuous  in  your  determin- 
ing to  accumulate  so  large  a  sum  of  money  in  such  a 
short  time  ?  Why,  I  have  often  thought  it  would  be 
hardly  reasonable  for  me  to  expect  to  live  long  enough 
to  see  you  worth  ten  thousand  dollars.  And  yet  you 
think  you  must  have  as  much  as  that  before  you  can 
even  tell  Miss  Orlington  that  you  love  her." 

I  gave  her  a  full  explanation  of  my  plan,  so  far  as  it 
had  been  formed,  and  she  responded  : 

"  Well,  it  all  looks  as  if  it  could  be  carried  out,  though 
we  can  never  foresee  all  the  difficulties  in  our  way,  and 
you  seem  now  to  be  strong  enough  for  any  thing.  That 
Mr.  Jorman  must  be  feeling  a  great  interest  in  you,  con- 
sidering how  short  a  time  you  have  been  acquainted.  I 
don't  wonder  at  it  if  he  can  read  characters  as  well  as 
you  think  he  can.  But  I  care  most  about  its  being  Mr. 
Sekell  who  is  to  open  the  way  for  you.  It  will  make  him 
so  happy  if  he  can  help  you  forward.  I  shall  be  almost 
as  glad  for  him  as  I  shall  for  you,  if  every  thing  turns 
out  well.  In  all  your  father's  pastoral  life  he  never  had 
a  member  who  was  more  devoted  to  him.  I  can  recol- 


106  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

lect,  as  if  it  was  yesterday,  when  your  father  took  him 
into  the  church  and  gave  him  the  hand  of  fellowship." 

Many  other  points  had  been  touched  upon  between  us 
when  my  mother  saw  me  looking  at  my  watch. 

"  I  know  it  is  getting  late,"  she  said,  "  but  I  can't  let 
you  go  just  yet,  dear.  I  want  you  to  understand  how 
you  have  widened  out  the  world  for  me.  I  have  never 
blamed  you,  George,  for  not  talking  to  me  of  your  plans 
and  hopes  and  aspirations  and  trials.  I  have  always 
known  that  your  silence  could  not  spring  from  any  want 
of  affection.  I  have  seen  that  you  thought  it  would  be 
giving  me  needless  trouble  if  you  should  tell  me  of 
your  perplexities.  And  then  you  have  been  away  from 
home  a  great  deal,  and  so  have  formed  the  habit  of  keep- 
ing things  to  yourself.  But  oht  I  have  so  longed  to  be 
taken  more  fully  into  your  life.  It  has  seemed  to  me  so 
certain  that  I  could  help  you  if  you  would  give  me  a 
chance  to  put  my  heart  by  the  side  of  yours.  Of  course 
I  never  could  say  all  this  to  you  before.  We  mothers 
can  never  ask  our  children  to  reveal  their  hidden  thoughts 
and  feelings  to  us.  If  their  hearts  do  not  open  to  us 
spontaneously,  we  can't  have  them  open  at  all.  I  don't 
know  what  the  reason  is,  I  am  sure  ;  I  only  know  it  is 
so.  But  I  feel  now  that  I  have  a  great  deal  more  to  live 
for  than  I  had  this  morning.  I  can't  make  it  seem  to  me 
as  if  an  hour  of  my  time  would  ever  drag  heavily  here- 
after." 

When  I  arrived  at  the  store,  the  next  morning,  Mr. 
Johnson  gave  me  a  hearty  greeting.  "  Well,"  he  said,  as 
he  looked  me  over  with  evident  satisfaction,  "  you  have 
turned  your  clock  back  a  year  or  two.  You  are  in  a 
regular  prize-fighter  condition.  I  am  going  to  take  a 
little  run  now  myself  for  a  couple  of  weeks,  and  you  will 


EVENTS   OF    THE    AUTUMN.  107 

have  to  put  off  starting  for  the  West  till  I  get  back.  I 
have  made  up  my  mind  to  have  you  do  most  of  my  work 
while  I  am  gone.  In  the  first  place,  you  will  have  to  de- 
termine all  the  credits.  You  have  had  occasion  to  do  a 
good  deal  of  that  kind  of  work  since  you  went  upon  the 
road,  and  you  have  never  made  any  bad  mistakes.  I 
don't  think  you  have  trusted  a  single  man  who  has  turned 
out  to  be  a  rascal,  and  no  one  could  have  foreseen  the 
circumstances  that  upset  your  two  or  three  customers 
who  have  had  to  knock  under.  Then  you  will  have  to 
decide  on  the  extent  of  a  contract  for  steel  screws,  to  be 
held  at  the  factory  in  Cleveland  subject  to  orders  for 
shipment  to  points  further  West.  Besides,  we  are  nego- 
tiating for  control  of  several  lines  of  agricultural  imple- 
ments turned  out  from  a  mill  in  Auburn.  Some  of  the 
tools  are  adapted  to  the  Western  market,  and  some  to  the 
Southern  ;  two  or  three  of  them  go  to  South  America. 
Mr.  Millecramp  will  be  governed  by  your  views  on  that 
matter.  But  take  out  your  memorandum-book  and  come 
into  my  den." 

We  considered  a  multitude  of  particulars  in  rapid  suc- 
cession, and  I  spent  most  of  the  morning  in  getting  Mr. 
Johnson's  department  in  hand.  Jorman  came  in  about 
eleven  o'clock,  but  I  could  give  him  no  attention  beyond 
introducing  him  to  Mr.  Millecramp  and  handing  him  a 
chair.  Just  at  that  moment,  a  customer,  whom  I  had 
secured  in  Iowa  the  previous  fall,  entered  the  store,  and 
Mr.  Millecramp  said  :  "  Bidrop,  here  is  a  gentleman  who 
has  been  waiting  for  you  two  or  three  days.  He  won't 
have  any  thing  to  do  with  the  rest  of  us." 

I  gave  my  attention  to  this  gentleman,  and  he  bought 
quite  heavily.  In  passing  along  the  shelves  we  came 
near  the  front  of  the  store,  where  Mr.  Millecramp  and 


108  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

Jorman  were  sitting.  Examining  some  case-knives  of 
a  peculiar  style,  my  customer  asked  the  price,  and  having 
learned  it,  said  :  "  I  like  their  shape  and  general  appear- 
ance. I  think  they  would  take  pretty  well  with  some  of 
our  people  ;  but  do  you  think  they  are  worth  that  price  ?" 

I  inspected  the  knives  more  closely  than  I  had  done 
before,  looked  at  the  cost-mark,  and  then  answered  : 
"  No.  We  can't  afford  to  sell  them  for  any  less  ;  but 
they  are  not  worth  so  much." 

Mr.  Millecramp  overheard  us,  and  suspended  his 
conversation  with  Jorman  long  enough  to  say  to  me  : 
"  Put  the  knives  at  what  they  are  worth,  and  make  a 
memorandum  that  will  keep  us  from  buying  any  more 
of  them  unless  we  can  get  them  cheaper." 

As  we  were  going  to  lunch,  Jorman  related  a  part 
of  the  conversation  to  which  this  incident  gave  rise.  He 
remarked  : 

"You  seem  to  do  business  here  on  a  rather  elevated 
moral  plane." 

"  We  are  trying  to  do  business  on  a  money-making 
plane,"  Mr.  Millecramp  answered,  "  and  to  build  up  a 
concern  that  will  last.  We  can't  afford  to  drive  any 
sharp  bargains.  If  Bidrop  had  lied  to  that  man  when 
he  had  asked  his  honest  opinion,  we  never  could  have 
got  him  inside  of  this  store  again.  That  is  what  makes 
Bidrop  such  a  capital  salesman  :  his  customers  soon  get 
to  understand  that  he  will  let  their  trade  go  to  the  devil, 
and  let  them  go  there  too,  before  he  will  misrepresent 
any  thing  to  them.  Whether  we  have  any  higher  princi- 
ple, or  not,  is  a  thing  that  it  would  n't  be  in  good 
taste  for  me  to  talk  about.  All  that  we  claim  is,  that  we 
are  men  of  common-sense,  that  we  want  to  make  money, 
and  that  we  are  here  to  stay." 


EVENTS    OF    THE    AUTUMN.  109 

. 

In  philosophizing  on  this  remark,  Jorman  said  to  me  : 
"  You  can  get  a  glimpse  here  of  the  ordained  use  of  a  ten- 
dency which  is  often  abused — the  tendency  to  make  an 
ultimate  object  of  what  was  first  adopted  only  as  an  in- 
strumentality. I  won't  go  back  now  to  show  you  how 
that  proclivity  originates  ;  I  only  want  you  to  see  how  it 
works.  Take  your  own  case.  You  want  money  for  the 
sake  of  being  in  a  position  to  solicit  the  affections  of  Miss 
Orlington.  Now,  if  you  had  n't  that  ultimate  object  so 
much  at  heart,  there  would  be  very  great  danger  of 
your  losing  all  interest  in  it  and  getting  to  love  money  for 
its  own  sake.  That  would  be  the  abuse  of  the  tendency. 
Now  for  the  ordained  use  of  it — what  it  was  given  for. 
Here  are  men  like  Millecramp,  who  start  out  to  accum- 
ulate fortunes.  That  is  their  ultimate  object,  and  most 
of  them  are  but  very  slightly  anchored  at  first  by  any 
moral  principle.  But  they  have  sense  enough  to  see  that 
square  dealing  is  indispensable  to  permanent  success  in 
their  line  of  business,  and  they  adopt  it  simply  as  an 
instrumentality.  What  is  the  result  ?  Why,  whether  they 
know  it  or  not,  they  soon  get  to  loving  square  dealing 
for  its  own  sake.  You  may  talk  as  much  as  you  please 
about  the  demoralizing  influences  connected  with  a 
mercantile  life,  but  it  is  perfectly  certain  that  there  are 
thousands  of  merchants  who  are  experiencing  a  steady 
moral  growth  of  which  they  are  not  conscious  in  the 
slightest  degree.  The  great  thing  is  for  a  man  to  start 
out  in  business  with  an  enlightened  apprehension  of  his 
own  interests.  Then  he  will  place  himself  on  such  a 
line,  that  the  tendency  of  which  I  have  been  speaking 
will  constantly  operate  towards  building  him  up,  instead 
of  helping  to  work  out  the  total  wreck  of  his  character. 
There  are  a  great  many  fools  who  adopt  knavery  as  an 


110  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

instrumentality,  with  great  reluctance,  at  first,  because  it 
seems  to  them  indispensable  to  the  end  on  which  their 
hearts  are  set ;  but  they  very  soon  come  to  love  knavery 
for  its  own  sake." 

Jorman  and  I  lunched  together  nearly  every  day,  and 
scarcely  an  evening  passed  without  my  making  a  record 
of  his  table-talk  ;  but  I  must  omit  from  this  work  the 
memoranda  which  I  have  preserved  of  these  and  many 
other  conversations.  He  insisted  on  my  seeing  his 
"  quarters  "  as  he  called  them,  and  getting  an  under- 
standing of  his  habitual  way  of  life. 

"  I  know  it  is  a  boyish  whim,"  he  said,  "  but  I  have  a 
fancy  for  putting  you  in  a  position  to  make  mental  pic- 
tures of  me  in  a  variety  of  settings." 

I  found  that  he  had  a  room  N about  twenty-five  feet  by 
fifty,  in  a  building  which  he  owned  on  Tenth  Street, 
where  he  kept  most  of  his  books  and  conferred  with 
those  who  had  business  with  him.  His  library  gave  no 
evidence  of  systematic  collecting,  but  was  made  up,  for 
the  most  part,  of  books  which  he  had  gathered  from 
time  to  time,  according  as  he  had  happened  to  be 
attracted  by  one  line  of  investigation  or  another.  He 
could  produce,  however,  a  specimen  of  the  writings  of 
nearly  every  eminent  author,  in  English,  French,  or 
German,  and  a  great  pile  in  one  corner  of  the  room 
consisted  of  quite  recent  works. 

"  I  buy  about  every  new  book  of  which  I  see  a  notice," 
he  said,  "  unless  I  have  already  had  enough  of  the  author. 
I  feel  like  tendering  hospitality  to  every  stranger  in  the 
literary  world,  and  am  always  hoping  to  find  that  one  of 
the  elect  has  stepped  into  the  arena.  I  don't  try  to  keep 
up  any  regular  habit  in  reading.  Sometimes  I  do  no 
more  for  weeks  than  to  open  books  as  I  happen  to,  and 


EVENTS    OF    THE    AUTUMN.  Ill 

glance  over  a  few  pages  here  and  there.  At  other  times 
I  read  sixteen  hours  in  twenty-four.  When  I  am  in  the 
city  I  generally  stay  here  from  nine  o'clock  to  lunch- 
time,  and  then,  unless  I  have  got  tied  to  some  book,  or 
some  subject,  or  the  weather  is  bad,  I  go  upon  the  street. 
I  am  very  apt,  though,  to  pick  up  a  cud  that  I  want  to 
chew  a  good  deal,  and,  in  that  case,  I  come  back  here  to 
play  the  ruminant.  You  see  that  path  in  the  carpet 
there  ;  I  tell  you  my  gray  matter  had  to  undergo  a  great 
many  throes  and  wrenches  before  it  could  make  such  a 
track  as  that.  I  used  to  have  another  suite  of  rooms  in 
this  building,  and  spend  my  nights  there  ;  but  I  made 
up  my  mind,  several  years  ago,  that  it  was  best  for  me  to 
dispense  with  certain  possibilities  connected  with  that 
way  of  life.  I  like  to  stay  about  my  hotel  most  of  the 
time  after  dinner." 

He  went  home  with  me  one  afternoon  and  returned  to 
the  city  by  the  ten  o'clock  train.  He  had  no  difficulty 
in  getting  upon  confidential  terms  with  Dolly,  whose  in- 
genuous talk  seemed  to  entertain  him  greatly.  In  his 
subsequent  conversation  with  my  mother  he  drew  out 
many  results  of  observation  and  reflection  which  sur- 
prised me.  I  was  proud  of  my  mother  and  proud  of  my 
friend.  He  left  with  her  his  library  address  for  the 
morning  and  his  hotel  address  for  the  evening,  and  in- 
sisted that  he  was  to  be  the  first  person  applied  to  if  help 
should  be  needed  in  my  absence." 

As  I  walked  with  Jorman  to  the  station  he  said  to  me  : 
"  Your  affections  are  all  right,  Nolly,  but  you  have  never 
risen  to  an  intellectual  appreciation  of  your  mother.  She 
is  a  very  able  woman,  and  her  sympathies  have  an  im- 
mense reach.  I  am  afraid  you  have  n't  quite  gotten  up 
to  her  level  yet." 


112  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

Before  starting  West,  I  told  the  members  of  the  firm 
of  my  new  plan,  and  said  to  them  that  my  salary  would 
have  to  be  suspended  for  two  or  three  weeks,  if  I 
should  go  to  Dakota.  They  answered  that  it  would  rest 
with  me  entirely  to  say  how  much  should  be  charged  up 
to  me  in  consideration  of  time  which  I  might  divert  from 
their  business  ;  and  Mr.  Millecramp  added  : 

"You  must  act  for  yourself,  of  course,  in  planning 
your  life-work  ;  and  it  is  high  time  that  you  were  about 
it.  You  can't  help  seeing  that  you  will  be  sacrificing  a 
great  deal,  if  you  throw  away  all  the  results  of  your 
experience  in  the  hardware  business.  And  I  may  as  well 
tell  you  that,  if  you  should  stay  with  us  two  or  three 
years  longer,  you  would  make  yourself  so  indispensable 
to  us  that  we  should  have  to  take  you  into  the  firm.  Even 
now,  we  could  n't  afford  to  have  you  go  to  a  rival  house. 
Johnson  and  I  have  had  a  good  many  talks  on  this  sub- 
ject." 

When  I  arrived  in  Chicago  I  found  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Sekell  awaiting  me.     He  had  written  as  follows  : 
"  DEAR  GEORGE  : 

"  If  you  decide  to  meet  me  here,  try  to  arrive  as 
soon  after  October  zoth  as  possible.  You  will  take  a 
steamer  at  Omaha  for  Dekkerville  on  the  Missouri. 
Then,  unless  you  can  catch  a  boat  coming  up  the  With- 
lematchie,  which  is  not  very  probable,  you  will  have  to 
take  the  stage  across.  It  leaves  Mondays,  Wednesdays, 
and  Fridays.  Dekkerville  is  forty  miles  below  the  mouth 
of  the  Withlematchie,  and  Mackopah,  which  is  the  name 
determined  on  for  the  eastern  terminus  of  our  road,  is 
seventy  miles  up  that  river  ;  but  it  is  only  seventy-five 
miles  between  the  two  places  by  the  stage  road.  There 
is  another  thing  which  you  need  to  understand  before 


EVENTS   OF    THE    AUTUMN.  113 

leaving  Chicago.  There  is  very  little  land  about  Macko- 
pah,  to  which  the  title  from  the  Government  has  been 
perfected.  There  is  little  chance,  therefore,  for  you  to 
secure  deeds  from  individuals,  though  a  part  of  the  town 
site  will  be  in  market,  and  I  shall  hope  to  see  you  get  a 
slice  of  it.  But  I  want  to  see  you  have  two  or  three  tracts 
adjoining  the  town  ;  and  here  is  the  difficulty.  You 
can't  enter  any  of  the  Government  lands  here  with 
money.  They  have  all  been  surveyed,  and  the  maps  are 
on  file  in  the  land  office  at  Dekkerville  ;  but  the  lands 
have  never  been  offered  at  public  sale.  They  are  open 
to  pre-emption,  and  they  can  be  entered  with  a  certain 
class  of  soldiers'  warrants.  I  think  you  can  get  such 
at  F.  H.  Gleason's,  on  Monroe  Street,  though  you  will 
have  to  pay  as  high  as  seven  or  eight  dollars  an  acre. 
You  must  be  very  particular  to  see  that  the  warrants  call 
for  land  'subject  to  sate,'  instead  of  '  subject  to  entry.' 
I  advise  you  to  buy  one  such  warrant  calling  for  160 
acres,  one  for  eighty,  and  one  for  forty.  I  have  my  eye 
on  some  pre-emptors  whom  I  think  you  can  hire  to 
abandon  their  claims. 

"  Now,  in  order  that  you  may  decide  understandingly 
whether  it  is  best  to  come  here,  or  to  give  the  whole  pro- 
ject up,  I  will  put  you  in  possession  of  some  facts  as  they 
look  to  me.  The  Withlematchie  &  Western  R.  R.,  as 
now  located,  is  to  be  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven 
miles  long,  striking  the  eastern  border  of  Montana  about 
twenty  miles  north  of  the  northern  line  of  Wyoming.  It 
winds  through  a  very  fertile  valley  all  the  way,  and  opens 
into  a  valley  averaging  thirty  miles  in  width  from  east  to 
west,  and  more  than  one  hundred  miles  long  from  north 
to  south.  These  valleys  are  sure  to  be  densely  popu- 
lated ;  pre-emptors  have  been  flocking  into  them  very 


114  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

fast  all  summer.  Besides,  all  the  travel  and  transporta- 
tion to  the  Black  Hills  and  the  principal  mining  locali- 
ties of  Montana  must  go  over  our  road.  You  see, 
therefore,  that  Mackopah  is  bound  to  have  an  immense 
backing  ;  it  can't  help  being  the  emporium  of  a  vast 
region.  It  may  be  expected,  of  course,  that  the  time 
will  come  when  our  road  will  be  extended  to  Dekker- 
ville,  and  Mackopah  will  cease  to  be  its  eastern  terminus. 
But,  by  that  time,  other  roads  will  be  coming  into  the 
place  from  the  north  and  south,  making  ours  an  eastern 
and  western  trunk.  And  our  folks  will  be  in  no  hurry 
about  building  to  the  east  of  Mackopah.  They  will  see 
much  more  advantage  in  western  extensions,  because 
there  they  can  have  every  thing  their  own  way,  while,  to 
the  east,  they  would  be  in  competition  with  the  river. 
Any  boat  that  can  reach  Dekkerville  can  come  to 
Mackopah,  though  the  Withlematchie  begins  to  shoal 
badly  just  above  this  place.  At  all  events,  the  place 
must  grow  very  rapidly  for  several  years. 

"  1  am  glad  you  have  found  a  moneyed  partner,  and  I 
feel  sure  that  he  will  never  have  occasion  to  regret  his 
connection  with  you.  If  my  pointing  out  this  opportu- 
nity results  in  giving  you  a  lift,  I  shall  feel  that  I  have 
taken  a  little  step  toward  repaying  what  I  owe  your 
parents." 

I  was  able,  with  some  difficulty,  to  obtain  the  soldiers' 
warrants,  which  Sekell  had  advised  me  to  buy,  though  I 
had  to  pay  such  a  price  for  them  that  the  land  to  be  en- 
tered with  them  would  cost  me  nine  dollars  per  acre. 
This  seemed  to  me  a  little  hard,  as  I  had  always  under- 
stood the  regular  price  for  Government  lands  to  be  only 
a  dollar  and  a  quarter  an  acre.  Having  canvassed  a 
good  part  of  Iowa  in  the  intervening  time,  I  took  passage 


EVENTS   OF    THE    AUTUMN.  115 

at  Omaha  the  i5th  of  October.  My  fellow-passengers 
were  not  numerous,  since  it  was  too  late  in  the  season  for 
either  tourists  or  emigrants  to  be  moving  northwest- 
wardly in  large  numbers.  As  had  been  anticipated,  I 
found  it  necessary  to  go  from  Dekkerville  to  Mackopah 
by  stage, — that  is  to  say,  in  a  spring- wagon  covered  with 
canvas.  Sekell  was  waiting  for  me,  and  very  anxious  to 
set  out  for  Chicago,  that  he  might  be  with  his  family  as 
soon  as  possible.  He  showed  me  a  profile  of  the  pro- 
jected railroad,  and  expressed  the  opinion  that  work 
would  be  commenced  at  the  re-opening  of  navigation  the 
next  spring,  and  be  rapidly  pushed,  if  not  entirely  com- 
pleted, during  the  season.  He  believed  that  it  would  be 
best  for  the  company  to  place  him  in  charge  of  the  con- 
struction and  permit  him  to  organize  the  "  army,"  as  he 
called  the  force  of  laborers,  in  his  own  way.  His  view 
was  that  no  contractor  would  bid  for  a  job,  in  that 
remote  region,  without  allowing  himself  an  immense 
margin.  In  pointing  out  the  reasons  why  Mackopah 
must  necessarily  be  the  eastern  terminus  of  the  road,  Mr. 
Sekell  said  : 

"  You  see  by  this  map  of  mine  that  the  river  makes  a 
big  bend  just  above  here,  and  that  for  about  twenty 
miles  its  general  course  is  nearly  north  and  south,  so 
that  we  could  n't  shorten  our  line  by  striking  a  point 
higher  up.  Now  you  observe  that  the  banks  of  the 
stream  all  along  here  are  broken  up  into  bluffs  and 
swamps.  There  is  not  a  single  point  after  you  leave 
Mackopah  where  even  a  good  landing-place  can  be 
found,  to  say  nothing  of  a  town  site,  till  you  get  to  Dill- 
town,  which  is  at  least  fifteen  miles  from  here  by  the  way 
of  the  river.  There  is  a  splendid  site  for  a  town  there, 
and  the  land  lies  beautifully  for  some  distance  back. 


Il6  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

But  a  road  from  the  Montana  line  to  Dilltown  would  be 
nearly  two  miles  longer  than  one  from  the  same  starting- 
point  to  Mackopah,  because  it  is  necessary  to  pass 
through  a  gap  which  lies  almost  due  west  of  this  place. 
That  is  not  all.  There  is  a  very  bad  shoal  a  little  way 
above  here.  I  learn  that,  during  a  great  part  of  every 
summer,  such  boats  as  come  to  Mackopah  with  all  ease, 
could  not  possibly  get  up  to  Dilltown.  That  settles  the 
matter,  you  see,  for  we  have  got  to  strike  a  point  where 
navigation  can  be  relied  upon  whenever  the  river  is  clear 
of  ice.  I  '11  make  a  copy  of  this  map  for  you,  so  that 
you  can  explain  the  whole  thing  to  your  partner." 

The  town  about  to  come  into  existence  was  to  be  situ- 
ated, for  the  most  part,  on  an  elevated  plateau  between 
the  river  and  a  considerable  ridge.  The  extent  of  water- 
front suitable  for  a  steamer-landing  was  very  limited.  It 
was  a  strip  less  than  two  hundred  feet  wide,  with  a  pre- 
cipitous bluff  on  the  upper  side  and  a  large  area  liable  to 
overflow  in  the  opposite  direction.  Back  of  this  landing- 
place  the  ascent  was  so  steep  that  the  plateau  was 
reached  by  a  road  winding  around  the  base  of  the  hill, 
and  along  the  edge  of  the  land  liable  to  overflow,  and 
then  up  a  dry  and  tortuous  ravine.  The  tract  here  de- 
scribed was  a  part  of  a  fractional  lot,  containing  a  little 
more  than  one  hundred  and  thirty  acres,  which  had  been 
entered  by  Jacques  Gabineau,  a  Canadian  who  had  lived 
there  Avith  his  half-breed  wife,  for  several  years.  Two 
of  Mr.  Sekell's  assistants  were  engaged  in  laying  out 
streets  and  lots  on  that  part  of  the  tract  which  was  situ- 
ated on  the  plateau.  We  took  an  early  opportunity  to 
ascertain  what  terms  could  be  made  with  Mr.  Gabineau, 
and  found  that  he  was  unwilling  to  fix  a  price  for  any 
considerable  part  of  the  land  on  which  the  surveyors 


EVENTS   OF    THE    AUTUMN.  117 

were  at  work,  though  he  was  very  ready  to  sell  single 
lots,  here  and  there,  to  persons  who  would  bind  them- 
selves to  erect  buildings.  He  gave  us  to  understand  that 
he  intended  to  secure  for  himself  all  that  speculators 
could  make  by  buying  up  his  land  in  large  blocks.  He 
finally  said,  with  a  laugh  :  "  I  will  sell  you  that  point 
there,  reserving  the  boat-landing  and  a  right  of  way  up 
to  this  level  ground.  There  is  about  a  dozen  acres  of  it, 
and  I  will  sell  it  for  three  hundred  dollars  an  acre." 

"  Well,  we  will  think  about  that,"  Mr.  Sekell  said  ; 
and  we  walked  away. 

"We  shall  have  to  look  at  something  else,"  I  said. 
"  Three  hundred  dollars  an  acre  for  land  all  broken  up 
into  hills  and  hollows  ?  Why,  there  is  hardly  a  level  spot 
large  enough  for  a  shanty." 

"You  will  change  your  mind,  I  think,"  my  friend  re- 
sponded. "  That  is  the  very  slice  I  have  been  wanting 
you  to  get.  Don't  you  see  that  the  business  of  the  town 
has  got  to  be  done  right  there  ?  There  is  no  other  place 
for  boats  to  land  ;  and  our  railroad  will  strike  the  river 
just  beyond  you.  There  will  be  nothing  but  a  street  be- 
tween your  line  and  our  depot  ;  and  the  street  from  the 
depot,  running  parallel  with  the  river,  will  be  the  Broad- 
way of  Mackopah.  You  will  have  seven  hundred  feet 
on  each  side  of  the  best  end  of  it.  Of  course  you  will 
have  a  big  job  of  grading  to  do.  You  will  have  to  take 
down  your  hill-tops  and  fill  up  your  ravines  and  raise  all 
your  low  ground  above  high-water  mark.  That  will 
give  you  about  four  hundred  feet  of  water-front.  I  have 
made  a  rough  estimate,  and  find  that  you  will  have  to 
move  about  forty  thousand  cubic  yards  at  a  cost,  in 
round  numbers,  of  six  thousand  dollars.  The  only  ques- 
tion is,  whether  you  can  explain  the  matter  to  your  part- 


Il8  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

ner  in  such  a  way  that  he  will  be  willing  to  put  in  the 
money." 

"  There  will  be  no  trouble  about  that." 

"  Well  then,  your  fortune  is  made  ;  and  do  you  know, 
George,  that  I  like  this  a  great  deal  better  than  I  should 
to  have  you  buy  land  and  sell  it  out  in  the  same 
shape  ?  Speculating  in  real-estate,  buying  land  and 
just  waiting  for  it  to  advance,  without  doing  any  thing 
for  anybody  in  the  meantime,  is  a  business  I  never  ex- 
actly fancied  for  myself  or  my  friends.  It  is  all  right ; 
but  where  you  buy  land  and  raise  its  value  by  giving 
laborers  a  chance  to  get  food  for  their  wives  and  babies, 
the  thing  is  a  great  deal  more  satisfactory  to  me." 

We  had  the  tract  surveyed,  and  found  that  it  con- 
tained a  fraction  over  thirteen  acres  ;  and  I  concluded 
the  purchase  of  it.  Then,  at  a  cost  of  sixteen  hundred 
dollars,  I  procured  the  abandonment  of  a  pre-emption- 
claim  to  a  quarter  of  a  section  of  land  lying  on  the  ridge 
and  an  adjoining  plain.  Then  we  selected  an  "  eighty  " 
and  a  "  forty  "  near  by,  and,  after  much  arguing,  I  per- 
suaded Mr.  Sekell  to  take  warrants  for  these  lots  off  my 
hands,  and  make  the  entries  in  his  own  name. 

In  two  days  after  my  arrival  at  Mackopah,  we  were 
ready  to  take  our  departure.  Our  business  at  the  land 
office  in  Dekkerville  was  consummated  just  in  time  for 
us  to  take  a  steamer  down  the  river.  I  was  not  able  to 
get  my  deed  from  Gabineau  placed  on  record  ;  but 
Sekell  said  there  would  be  no  risk  in  deferring  that  mat- 
ter till  the  next  spring.  I  carried  the  deed  in  a  chamois 
envelope,  which  I  was  accustomed  to  wear  on  my  person 
when  collecting  money  in  out-of-the-way  places. 

During  this  trip  down  the  river,  my  attachment  to 
Mr.  Sekell  was  greatly  strengthened.  He  was  a  little 


EVENTS  OF  THE  AUTUMN.  lip 

more  than  forty  years  old,  somewhat  under  the  medium 
size,  with  brown  eyes,  reddish-brown  beard  and  dark 
hair.  Both  beard  and  hair  were  kept  short.  The  most 
noticable  thing  in  his  countenance  was  what  I  called  the 
depth  and  steadiness  of  his  eyes.  Though  naturally 
taciturn,  it  was  easy  to  draw  him  out  on  a  subject  that 
interested  him,  unless  he  thought  that  his  speaking  freely 
might  prove  injurious  to  others.  On  this  point  he  was 
exceedingly  scrupulous.  His  love  for  his  profession 
was  obviously  strong,  and  I  was  convinced  that  he  had 
few  superiors  in  it.  He  had  no  property,  except  his 
modest  home  in  Chicago,  and  a  few  hundred  dollars  in 
bank.  The  investment,  which  I  had  just  persuaded  him 
to  make,  was  the  first  step  he  had  ever  taken  with  a  view 
to  profiting  by  the  rise  of  real-estate  in  value,  though  he 
admitted  that  he  had  pointed  out  to  others  many  good 
opportunities  for  such  proceedings.  He  said  he  had  al- 
ways been  afraid  that  any  undertaking  of  that  kind 
would  interfere  with  his  professional  work. 

At  Omaha  I  found  the  following  letter  from  Mr. 
Jorman  : 

"  Dear  Nolly,  I  have  met  with  a  terrible  disappoint- 
ment, and  I  want  to  unload  upon  you  about  a  third  of 
my  dissatisfaction  with  the  universe.  You  remember 
how  excited  I  was  over  the  manifestation  of  feeling  by 
Serena,  when  we  were  talking  about  heredity  and  the 
added  force  which  a  proclivity  might  gain  in  passing 
from  one  generation  to  another.  But,  if  you  think  you 
know  how  much  of  a  disturber  that  circumstance 
became  among  my  central  forces,  you  are  greatly  mis- 
taken. That  look  of  suffering  and  defiance  kept  haunt- 
ing me,  and,  after  you  got  out  of  the  way,  it  threatened 
to  take  exclusive  possession  of  my  imagination.  I  ought 


120  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

to  have  gone  to   reading  blood-and-thunder  novels,  or 
getting  up  a  picture  of  the  Palaeozoic  age,  or  something 
of  that  sort  ;  but  the  Old  Harry  had  to  have  his  way 
with  me.     I  kept  saying  to  myself  that  the  only  possible 
explanation  had  occurred  to  me  at  once  ;  but  we  are  all 
such  cranks,  you  know,  that  the  surer  we  feel  of  any 
conclusion  at  which  we  have  arrived  by  reasoning,  the 
more   anxious   we   are  to   have   it   confirmed   by  facts. 
Now  see  how  cunningly  I  cheated  myself.     I  could  n't 
let  my  right  hand  know  that  my  left  hand  was  going  to 
fumble  around  among  family  secrets.     Oh,  no.     Conse- 
quently, I  remembered  that  it  was  a  long  time  since  I 
had  seen  my  old  Harvard  classmate,  Bob  Dilmore,  who 
is  a  native  of  Boston,  and  is  practising  law  there.     It  had 
been  very  wrong  in  me  to  be  so  neglectful  of  Bob,  and  I 
saw  that   I  ought   to  visit   him    immediately.     Well,    I 
found  myself  in  his  office  about  ten  o'clock  one  morning. 
I   suppose  I  managed  to  use  up  a  full  half  hour  with 
reminiscences  before  making  casual  mention  of  the  fact 
that  I  had  recently  met  a  Boston  widow  by  the  name  of 
Erdby.     Bob  said  it  must  have  been  the  widow  of  Charles 
Erdby  ;  that  there  were  not  many  of  the  name  in  the 
city  ;  that  the  Erdbys  were  classed  among  the  Mayflower 
families,  though  none  of  them  were  wealthy.     His  im- 
pression was  that  the  mother  of  Charles,  who  had  been  a 
widow  a  great  many  years,  possessed  a  moderate  compe- 
tence.    In  answer  to  my  questions  he  gave  me  to  under- 
stand  that   he  had  never   been   intimate  with  Charles 
Erdby,  but  had  known  him   as  a  young  man  of  quiet 
manners  and   somewhat  puritanical  principles,    holding 
an  important  position  in  the  Progressive  National  Bank- 
According  to  his  recollection,  Erdby  had  given  up  his 
position  in  the  bank,  or  got  a  furlough,  on  account  of 


EVENTS   OF    THE    AUTUMN.  121 

the  failure  of  his  health,  and  gone  to  Colorado  and  died 
there.  I  asked  if  there  had  never  been  any  suspicion  of 
crookedness  in  connection  with  that  going  to  Colorado. 
Bob  had  never  heard  an  intimation  of  any  such  thing  ; 
but,  seeing  that  I  was  greatly  exercised  on  the  subject, 
he  said  he  could  get  at  all  the  facts,  since  he  was  inti- 
mate with  a  brother  lawyer  who  had  married  one  of 
Charles  Erdby's  sisters,  and  was  one  of  the  most  candid 
men  in  the  world.  I  confessed  to  some  curiosity,  and 
spoke  in  such  a  way  that  Bob  smiled  and  assured  me 
that  I  should  be  accommodated.  I  believe  the  rascal 
suspected  me  of  a  little  Benedictine  mushiness. 

"  Now  see  what  a  pretty  kettle  of  fish  I  got  myself 
invited  to  by  not  knowing  enough  to  mind  my  own  busi- 
ness. The  name  of  Bob's  friend  is  Melton,  and  his  story 
was  in  this  shape  : 

"  Charles  J.  Erdby  was  an  only  son,  with  three  sisters 
older  than  himself,  and  was,  of  course,  the  pet  of  the 
family.  The  four  children  received,  under  their  father's 
will,  only  a  thousand  dollars  each,  the  rest  of  the  small 
estate  being  wisely  left  in  charge  of  their  mother.  While 
still  very  young,  Charles  obtained  a  position  in  the  Pro- 
gressive Bank,  and,  by  reason  of  his  steadiness  and  close 
attention  to  his  duties,  he  was  promoted  from  time  to 
time.  One  summer  he  spent  the  two  weeks'  vacation  al- 
lowed him  in  the  western  part  of  the  State,  and  there  fell 
in  love  with  the  young  teacher  of  a  country  school, 
whose  name  was  Julia  Evalstone,  and  whose  father  was 
a  village  carpenter ;  and  nothing  would  do  but  he 
must  get  married  the  next  fall.  The  young  couple 
boarded  until  some  time  after  their  child  was  born, 
and  then  went  to  keeping  house  on  a  very  modest  scale. 
The  mother  and  sisters  of  Charles  regarded  his  wife  as 


122  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

an  amiable  young  woman,  but  complained  that  they 
could  never  get  her  into  full  sympathy  with  them,  nor 
lead  her  to  appreciate  the  privilege  of  living  in  Boston. 
They  said  her  heart  always  seemed  to  be  with  the  car- 
penter's family  in  the  little  village  of  Parcelton.  They 
charged,  also,  that  she  was  very  secretive.  But  things 
went  on  smoothly  for  some  years,  till  Mrs.  Charles  Erd- 
by  made  a  long  visit  to  her  old  home.  Soon  after  that,  a 
change  in  both  husband  and  wife  began  to  be  observed. 
He  was  often  moody,  and  lost  all  that  equableness  of 
spirit  for  which  he  had  been  remarkable.  At  one  time 
he  would  be  so  abstracted  as  to  take  no  notice  of  what 
was  going  on,  and,  at  another,  would  be  so  talkative  as 
to  excite  the  surprise  of  all  his  old  acquaintances.  Oc- 
casionally, too,  he  was  known  to  incur  expenses  wholly 
inconsistent  with  his  former  economical  habits.  On  her 
part,  the  wife,  though  as  uncommunicative  as  ever,  was 
often  seen  to  be  in  a  state  of  obvious  mental  excitement. 
In  the  course  of  a  few  months,  she  went  suddenly  upon 
two  visits  to  Parcelton.  On  one  of  these  occasions,  she 
was  induced  to  go  by  a  telegram  which  arrived  while 
Melton's  wife  happened  to  be  in  the  house.  This  lady, 
observing  that  instead  of  being  delivered  by  a  messenger- 
boy,  the  telegram  was  brought  by  one  whom  she  recognized 
as  a  clerk  of  the  family  grocer,  had  her  curiosity  excited. 
Managing  for  opportunity  to  glance  at  the  despatch,  she 
found  it  was  signed '  E.  Crasburg.'  In  this  way  Melton  and 
his  wife  were  put  on  the  track  of  a  clandestine  correspond- 
ence which  Mrs.  Erdby  was  carrying  on  with  some  one 
at  Parcelton.  They  learned  from  the  grocer's  clerk  that 
letters  for  her  often  came  from  that  place,  under  cover 
to  his  employer,  and  that  he  was  instructed  to  deliver 
such  letters  only  between  ten  and  eleven  o'clock  in  the 


EVENTS   OF    THE    AUTUMN.  123 

morning.  They  found,  also,  that  this  grocer  had  come 
to  Boston,  a  few  years  previously,  from  Parcelton.  This 
was  the  state  of  things  when  Melton,  on  arriving  at  his 
office  one  morning,  had  his  attention  called  to  a  package 
accompanied  with  a  letter  from  Erdby.  Melton  per- 
mitted my  friend  to  take  a  copy  of  that  letter,  which  ran 
as  follows  : 

" '  DEAR  EZRA: — I  am  a  ruined  man  and  about  to  leave 
Boston  forever.  I  write  this  and  put  in  your  hands  the 
papers  which  I  send  herewith,  because  I  want  you  and 
mother  and  sisters  to  know  the  real  truth  about  me.  But 
I  beg  that  all  this  knowledge  may  be  kept  within  our 
family.  Though  I  can  never  live  with  my  wife  again,  I 
want  you  all  to  remember  that  she  is  the  mother  of  my  boy, 
and  for  his  sake  and  mine  I  want  you  to  keep  silent. 
People  can  understand  that  I  have  gone  away  on  account 
of  my  health,  which  you  know  has  been  getting  bad 
lately.  You  will  see  from  the  papers  I  send  that  my 
wife  has  been  getting  large  sums  of  money  from  our 
bank,  on  notes  to  which  she  has  attached  my  signature, 
and  that  she  has  deposited  that  money  in  her  own  name 
at  the  Bank  of  Parcelton  and  checked  it  out  from  time 
to  time  for  the  benefit  of  her  relatives  and  a  Mr.  Cras- 
burg.  I  have  known  all  the  time  that  something  wrong 
was  going  on,  but  could  n't  imagine  what  it  was.  You 
will  see  that  the  notes  are  all  in  the  handwriting  of 
Lumer,  our  cashier,  and  that  they  are  in  an  unusual  form, 
with  the  amounts  of  principal  and  interest  set  down  on 
the  backs  of  them  and  added  up.  These  endorsements 
are  also  in  Lumer's  hand.  Why  he  should  encourage 
my  wife  to  bind  me  for  every  dollar  I  had  in  the  bank, 
both  stocks  and  deposits,  and  throw  away  the  money  on 
her  Parcelton  pets,  I  cannot  understand,  unless  he  has  some 


124  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

rascally  scheme  in  his  head  that  he  knows  he  could  n  t 
carry  out  if  I  should  stay  in  my  position.  He  took 
it  for  granted,  of  course,  that  I  would  not  expose  my  wife 
by  refusing  to  pay,  and  that  I  would  not  remain  under 
him  an  hour  after  finding  out  what  had  been  going  on. 
It  could  all  be  managed  without  my  wife's  going  to  the 
bank,  because,  as  you  know,  she  visited  at  Lumer's 
oftener  than  at  any  other  house  in  the  city.  If  you  want 
any  further  explanation  of  my  resolution  to  leave  Boston 
to-night,  I  will  tell  you  that  when  I  went  home  this  after- 
noon, after  taking  up  the  notes,  I  found  E.  Crasburg  at 
my  house,  and  that  he  is  a  younger  man  and  a  better- 
looking  man  than  I  am.' 

"  Melton  showed  Bob  the  documents  that  accompanied 
this  letter.  There  were  several  notes,  for  various  sums, 
aggregating  several  thousand  dollars,  signed  '  C.  J. 
Erdby  per  Julia  E.  Erdby,'  and  corresponding  in  all  re- 
spects with  the  description  of  them  contained  in  the 
letter.  Then  there  was  a  statement  of  the  account  of 
Julia  E.  Erdby  with  the  National  Bank  of  Parcelton. 
Finally  there  was  a  package  of  cancelled  checks,  drawn 
by  Julia  E.  Erdby  on  that  bank  and  payable  to  different 
orders.  Some  of  them  were  to  the  order  of  J.  Evalstone 
and  some  to  that  of  Sarah  Evalstone  ;  but  the  largest 
checks,  by  far,  were  payable  to  the  order  of  E.  Crasburg. 
Melton  attempted  to  investigate  the  matter  at  the  Pro- 
gressive Bank,  but  could  get  no  satisfaction.  The  cashier 
seemed  to  be  very  much  startled  when  one  of  the  notes 
was  exhibited  to  him,  though  he  admitted  that  it  was  in 
his  writing.  He  acknowledged  that  all  claims  of  the 
bank  on  Charles  Erdby  had  been  fully  adjusted,  but 
positively  refused  to  say  another  word  on  the  subject. 
A  lady,  living  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street,  de- 


EVENTS   OF   THE   AUTUMN.  125 

scribed  to  Mrs.  Melton  a  young  man  whom  she  had 
seen  leaving  the  Erdby  cottage,  with  an  appearance  of 
great  agitation,  soon  after  Erdby  had  entered  his  house 
for  the  last  time  ;  and  Melton  obtained,  from  a  hotel- 
clerk,  a  similar  description  of  a  person  registered  as  E. 
Crasburg.  After  conferring  with  Erdby's  mother  and 
sisters,  Melton  called  on  young  Mrs.  Erdby,  and  told 
her  that  the  family  had  determined  to  keep  silence  in 
regard  to  the  trouble,  but  would  prefer  to  have  no  further 
relations  with  her.  She  gave  him  a  satirical  smile  and 
said  '  Very  well.'  Melton  says  that,  instead  of  seeming  to 
be  at  all  broken  down,  she  looked  as  if  she  had  a  thunder- 
cloud imprisoned  in  her  vitals.  Within  a  day  or  two,  a 
man  appeared  with  a  bill  of  sale  and  took  possession  of 
the  furniture ;  and  Mrs.  Erdby  set  out  for  Parcelton. 
Only  two  or  three  brief  letters  had  been  received  from 
Erdby,  when  information  came  of  his  death  in  Colorado. 
The  family  have  been  aware,  for  more  than  three  years, 
of  the  young  widow's  return  to  Boston.  They  know  that 
she  has  been  employed,  more  or  less,  as  a  teacher  of 
music. 

"  Now  is  n't  that  a  nice  story,  Nolly  ?  I  tell  you 
it  was  a  great  deal  pleasanter  for  me  to  think  of  Erdby's 
having  become  a  villain,  than  it  is  to  admit  that  Serena 
was  apprehending  danger  to  her  boy  from  a  proclivity 
transmitted  by  herself,  while  the  doctor  and  I  were 
agreeing  that  '  a  vicious  strain,  which  has  occasioned  but 
a  single  lapse  in  the  life  of  the  parent,  may  manifest  it- 
self as  the  predominant  force  in  the  life  of  the  child.'  But 
my  reflections  have  brought  me  some  comfort.  Of 
course  there  are  frightful  possibilities  in  the  nature  of 
every  human  being  ;  and  we  are  wholly  unable  to  meas- 
ure the  moral  stamina  natural  to  any  one  who  has  fallen, 


126  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

unless  we  have  a  correct  understanding  of  the  pressure 
which  has  caused  it  to  give  way.  We  know  that  Serena 
is  susceptible  of  strong  emotion  and  is  self-repres- 
sive ;  and  it  is  easy  to  see  how  these  dispositions  might 
be  made  to  pass  over  into  passionateness  and  secretive- 
ness.  We  can  see,  too,  how  remorse  in  view  of  an  enor- 
mous misstep  may  have  worked  very  potently  toward 
the  formation  of  those  exceptionally  vigorous  moral 
sentiments  which  are  now,  beyond  all  question,  charac- 
teristic of  Serena. 

"  But  I  am  comforted  most  by  another  conclusion  to 
which  I  have  arrived.  As  sure  as  you  are  born,  there 
never  was  any  love  affair  between  Serena  and  Crasburg. 
I  defy  you  to  reconcile  her  exquisite  constitutional  taste 
with  conjugal  infidelity.  And  when  you  come  to  im- 
agine her  loving  a  puppy  contemptible  enough  to  live  on 
her  bounty,  you  find  that  the  requisite  potentiality  is 
totally  absent  from  her  nature.  There  is  some  other 
explanation.  Perhaps  Crasburg  had  led  Serena  into 
some  wild  scheme  for  making  her  husband  suddenly 
rich.  Tarn  at  the  bottom  of  this  page,  and  you  must 
excuse  the  brevity  of  this  letter,  etc. 

"  RALPH  JORMAN." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

JOURNEYING     SOUTHWARD. 

T  RETURNED  to  New  York  early  in  December,  but 
-*•  had  only  a  few  days  there  before  starting  on  my 
Southern  tour.  So  far  as  my  own  affairs  were  con- 
cerned, the  matter  of  chief  interest  was  the  securing  of  a 
new  arrangement  with  Mr.  Perrison.  I  felt  perfectly 
confident  that  my  operations  in  Dakota  would  enable  me 
to  buy  Ellermere  and  provide  me  with  a  sufficient  work- 
ing capital.  But  I  could  not  hope  to  make  any  thing 
from  that  source  available  under  three  quarters  of  a 
year,  and  I  saw  that  every  step  in  Southern  recuperation 
increased  the  danger  of  my  having  rivals  for  the  posses- 
sion of  the  property  on  which  I  had  set  my  heart.  My 
mother  finally  said  to  me  : 

"  Suppose  you  see  if  you  can't  complete  the  purchase 
by  turning  in  this  cottage  as  a  first  payment." 

"  I  have  thought  of  that,"  I  replied  ;  "but,  don't  you 
see,  mother,  that  there  would  be  a  possibility  of  our 
losing  our  home  and  having  nothing  to  show  for  it  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes  ;  that  is  very  plain,  but  we  are  all  strong,  and 
it  would  n't  break  our  hearts  if  we  should  have  to  begin 
life  anew.  Besides,  if  you  should  fail  in  your  great  un- 
dertaking, and  have  to  give  up  your  chief  earthly  hope, 
it  would  be  a  good  thing  for  you  to  have  to  work  harder 
than  ever  for  Dolly  and  me.  You  will  never  let  your 
heart  sink  while  you  have  us  on  your  hands.  The  first 

127 


128  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

thing  to  be  attended  to,  it  seems  to  me,  is  to  keep  Eller- 
mere  from  slipping  away  beyond  your  reach." 

I  had  no  difficulty  in  effecting  the  arrangement  which 
my  mother  had  suggested.  Mr.  Perrison  took  the  cot' 
tage  at  $2,500,  and  I  agreed  to  pay  him  $5,000  more 
within  a  year  ;  but  neither  title  nor  possession  was  to 
pass,  on  either  side,  until  the  expiration  of  that  period. 
I  had  the  contract  drawn  by  a  good  lawyer,  and  it  was 
duly  executed. 

I  found  that  Jorman  was  fully  bent  on  accompanying 
me.  "  I  feel  it  borne  in  upon  me,"  he  said,  "  that  such 
an  opportunity  to  replenish  my  cerebral  cabinet  with 
specimens  of  the  genus  homo  is  not  to  be  neglected." 

"  Well,"  said  I,  "  I  am  going  to  play  Boswell  to  you. 
That  will  keep  me  out  of  mischief." 

"  In  that  case  I  shall  have  to  take  a  dictionary  along 
and  look  up  some  big  words." 

It  is  probable  that  Jorman  forgot  this  conversation 
entirely,  and  that  he  had  no  suspicion  of  my  spending 
some  time  nearly  every  night,  after  going  to  my  room,  in 
making  a  record  of  his  talks.  I  can  find  place  here  for 
only  a  very  few  of  the  notes  thus  accumulated.  He  often 
kept  me  laughing  an  hour  or  two  by  repeating  remarks 
which  he  had  drawn  from  negroes  and  uneducated 
whites  ;  but  I  shall  omit  all  such  quotations,  because  I 
have  no  skill  in  dialect-writing. 

After  we  had  left  Philadelphia  my  companion  re- 
marked ; 

"  I  never  get  tired  of  watching  these  railroaders.  I  like 
to  observe  the  working  of  the  special  faculties  called  into 
exercise  by  their  respective  duties.  In  some  of  them  the 
development  has  reached  a  surprising  stage.  See  that 
conductor  now.  He  comes  into  this  crowded  car  and 


JOURNEYING    SOUTHWARD.  129 

picks  out  at  a  glance  the  passengers  who  got  on  at  the  last 
station.  If  he  were  new  to  the  business  he  would  have 
to  bother  every  fellow  here  for  a  sight  of  his  ticket,  in 
order  to  be  sure  of  not  missing  the  new-comers.  Then 
he  answers  four  questions  while  punching  one  ticket, 
and  snubs  an  inquisitive  cuss  with  a  smile  that  will  keep 
his  vanity  alive  two  hours.  He  may  be  giving  attention 
to  half  a  dozen  persons  and  counting  his  money  at  the 
same  time, — but  he  will  pull  the  bell-rope  at  exactly  the 
right  instant.  And  this  thing  is  going  on  all  over  the 
civilized  world.  In  a  greater  variety  of  positions  than 
you  could  enumerate  in  a  week,  these  specially  developed 
faculties  are  driving  away  at  their  work.  I  understand 
the  sociologists  find  the  division  of  labor  a  hard  nut  to 
crack,  and  get  very  profound  in  discussing  it.  Fiddle- 
fuddle  !  They  will  never  master  the  subject  until  they  get 
to  understand  something  about  the  constitution  of  the 
human  mind.  The  law,  that  all  human  powers  shall  grow 
by  exercise,  and  the  susceptibility  by  reason  of  which  we 
find  growing  delight  in  the  exercise  of  growing  skill,  are 
the  principal  factors.  But  the  best  thing  in  this  matter 
is  indicated  by  the  application  of  the  word  "duties"  to 
the  particular  performances  called  for  in  each  of  these 
multitudinous  positions.  Men  lose  sight  of  the  signifi- 
cance of  that  word  sometimes.  They  talk  about  the 
duties  of  a  brakeman,  or  an  engineer,  as  though  morality 
had  nothing  to  do  with  them.  But  I  can  show  you  how 
each  of  these  fellows  comes  to  be  animated  in  his  work 
by  a  sense  of  duty  as  clear  as  that  which  sends  the  dea- 
con out  in  a  driving  rain  to  his  prayer-meeting.  And 
yet  there  are  mole-eyed  blockheads  who  can't  see  any 
celestial  regulation  in  these  matters.  Why,  confound  it 
all,  Nolly,  if  I  could  n't  see  an  omniscient  God  in  charge 


130  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

of  human  affairs,  I  would  n't  give  a  snap  for  the  universe. 
We  shall  be  favored  one  of  these  days,  with  the  appear- 
ance of  a  sociologist  able  enough  to  disregard  all  that 
has  been  written  by  those  fellows  who  can  do  nothing 
but  grope  after  the  tracks  of  their  respective  hobbies, 
and  independent  enough  to  employ  induction  in  their 
own  way.  Then  we  shall  have  some  generalizations 
which  will  connect  themselves  with  a  celestial  plan  for 
the  human  race.  I  guess  we  shall  find  out  that  the  para- 
mount thing  is  the  development  of  the  elect.  Iniquity 
presents  some  aspects  which  there  is  no  luxury  in  con- 
templating ;  but  I  don't  know  that  it  would  be  best  for 
us  to  have  much  less  of  it  at  this  stage  of  the  world.  If 
we  did  n't  have  a  good  deal  of  iniquity,  the  elect  could  n't 
have  a  sufficient  fight  on  their  hands." 

As  we  approached  Washington,  Jorman  pointed  to  the 
Capitol  and  said  : 

"  That  is  one  of  the  finest  observatories  in  the  world, — 
a  place  for  observing  the  movements,  not  exactly  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  but  of  some  very  earthly  bodies.  I 
hung  around  there  all  one  winter,  and  got  more  warmed 
up  in  studying  our  statesmen  than  I  ever  did  at  any 
thing  else  in  my  life.  I  catalogued  the  characteristics  of 
a  great  many  of  them  very  fully,  and  then  I  divided  them 
into  classes  and  sub-classes,  and  closed  '  with  a  few  in- 
ferences,' as  the  preachers  used  to  say.  They  are  a 
pretty  bright  set  of  men  on  the  whole  ;  the  average  of 
their  intellectual  efficiency  is  well  up  in  the  scale.  It  is 
all  nonsense  for  any  one  to  think  that  he  is  in  a  position 
to  sneer  at  Congressmen  as  a  body.  I  did  n't  spend 
much  time  in  watching  them  from  the  galleries.  All  that 
you  can  get  at  there,  as  far  as  most  of  them  are  con- 
cerned, is  their  general  appearance,  and  habitual  attitudes, 


JOURNEYING    SOUTHWARD.  131 

and  some  signs  which  show  whether  they  are  thinking  of 
their  duties  or  not.  In  order  to  judge  of  the  respective 
calibres  of  the  talkers,  you  have  only  to  read  the  Con- 
gressional Record.  But  I  managed  to  get  introduced  to 
the  statesmen  and  to  meet  them  here  and  there  and 
everywhere  ;  and  I  satisfied  myself  quite  fully  as  to  the 
way  their  faculties  are  in  the  habit  of  working.  Some  of 
them,  of  course,  are  only  quick-witted  and  glib-tongued. 
They  have  a  kind  of  hair-trigger  go-off  to  them  which 
has  stood  in  the  way  of  their  development ;  it  has  kept 
them  blind  to  the  need  of  stirring  up  their  mental  depths, 
and  so  their  minds  have  never  had  any  thing  but  a  sur- 
face-action. Others  have  secured  their  seats,  and  are 
keeping  them,  by  a  certain  combination  of  affability  with 
solemn  cunning.  Their  salaries  are  satisfactory  to  them, 
and  they  intend  to  make  sure  of  that  means  of  support, 
by  a  persistent  solicitation  of  patronage  at  one  end  of 
the  line,  and  a  careful  distribution  of  it  at  the  other. 
That  is  their  business,  and  they  give  themselves  to  it 
wholly.  But  a  great  many  of  these  statesmen  are  capable 
of  getting  well  down  into  the  core  of  a  subject,  bringing 
up  and  spreading  out  essential  truths,  and  taking  note  of 
their  various  bearings. 

"  Congress  is  not  a  good  place  of  discipline  for  a  ma- 
jority of  those  who  come  here  :  instead  of  growing  and 
gaining  solidity,  they  become  more  and  more  flabby  the 
longer  they  stay.  Responsibility  is  so  divided  that  there 
is  no  such  inevitable  development  of  a  sense  of  duty  as  I 
pointed  out  in  the  cases  of  the  railroaders  and  others,  who 
have  to  stand  at  their  post  and  put  in  their  work  at  ex- 
actly the  right  time,  or  see  a  vast  system  of  machinery 
thrown  all  out  of  gear.  Laziness  is  a  very  prevalent 
vice  among  Congressmen.  There  are  only  a  few  of  the 


132  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

majority  and  a  few  of  the  opposition  in  whom  the  sense 
of  duty  is  forced  into  constant  activity.  Still,  there  are 
more  diligent,  strenuous  fellows  among  them  than  you 
would  suppose  at  first.  A  goodly  number,  whose  names 
hardly  ever  get  into  the  papers,  are  doing  excellent  work 
for  us  in  the  committee-rooms,  and  wherever  they  can 
get  a  chance  for  conversation.  It  is  a  pity  that  some  of 
this  class  have  n't  a  little  of  the  bulldozer  in  their  com- 
position. They  are  too  modest  to  assert  themselves  on 
the  floor  and  compel  the  consideration  which  is  due  to 
the  excellence  of  their  personalities.  The  high  execu- 
tive positions  are  the  best  training-schools  in  Washing- 
ton. There  every  man  has  his  specific  duties,  and,  if  he 
has  n't  got  into  the  '  descensus  Averni  '  before  coming  here, 
he  is  apt  to  do  some  climbing." 

My  business  required  me  to  stop  at  many  different 
places  in  North  Carolina,  some  of  them  in  the  eastern 
part  of  the  State  where  the  freedmen  are  numerous,  and 
some  among  the  mountains  where  comparatively  few  of 
that  class  were  encountered.  The  following  brief  notes 
are  inserted  without  reference  to  the  order  in  which  they 
were  written. 

One  evening,  after  Jorman  had  been  present  at  several 
of  my  interviews  with  customers,  he  gave  the  results  of 
his  meditations  as  follows  : 

"  They  talk  about  Yankee  thrift  ;  but  I  guess  some  of 
the  New  England  merchants  would  do  well  to  come 
down  here  and  take  a  few  lessons.  Much  as  I  have 
heard  about  close  buying,  I  never  found  out  exactly 
what  it  was  till  to-day.  Every  man  had  to  look  over  his 
shelves,  and  see  how  soon  he  was  likely  to  run  short  of 
an  article,  before  he  would  make  any  order  at  all.  Then 
he  had  to  make  a  careful  estimate  of  the  quantity  he 


JOURNEYING    SOUTHWARD.  133 

could  sell  in  a  given  time,  before  he  would  decide  on  the 
size  of  the  order  ;  and  you  had  to  put  in  black  and 
white  your  agreement  to  make  a  discount  in  case  of  pay- 
ment within  thirty  days.  There  is  no  careless  risk-taking 
and  no  wild-eyed  slap-dashness  about  any  of  these  fel- 
lows. If  this  way  of  doing  business  is  characteristic  of 
Southern  merchants  generally,  they  are  going  to  get 
ahead  where  there  is  no  deficiency  in  the  productive 
backing  they  receive  from  the  country  around  them. 
Well,  I  like  this,  on  the  whole.  Why  should  n't  a  mer- 
chant take  some  pains  to  know  what  he  is  about  ?  To 
be  sure,  that  kind  of  prudence  can  easily  melt  off  into 
timidity  on  one  side,  or  harden  into  stinginess  on  the 
other.  But  that  is  the  way  with  all  our  virtues.  There 
is  no  limit  to  the  possibilities  of  perversion  presented  in 
human  nature ;  and  that  is  what  makes  it  such  a  grand 
thing  for  a  fellow  to  maintain  a  decent  character.  Each 
susceptibility  and  each  impulse,  of  which  a  man  is 
capable,  might  easily  become  the  avenue  of  a  rot  which 
would  prove  morally  ruinous  to  him." 

"  I  had  a  good  talk  with  an  old  farmer  to-day.  When 
I  told  him  I  was  a  Yankee,  he  said  he  reckoned  so  by 
the  cut  of  my  clothes,  and  then  went  on  to  say  that  he 
never  thought  much  of  the  Northerners  till  they  gave 
the  Southerners  a  licking.  That  led  him  to  believe  that 
we  amounted  to  something.  His  opinion  is  that  the 
class  to  which  he  belongs  have  some  peculiarities  which 
they  will  never  get  rid  of.  In  support  of  this  view,  he 
told  me  he  had  heard  of  a  man  who  came  down  here 
with  the  intention  of  changing  the  people  all  over,  and 
making  them  think  and  feel  and  act  just  like  Northern- 
ers. His  understanding  was  that  the  fellow  was  mighty 
smart  and  kept  tugging  away  at  his  job  a  good  long 


134  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

time,  but  finally  gave  it  up  and  went  away  and  wrote  a 
book  about  his  failure.  He  had  heard  that  the  author 
called  his  book  'The  error  of  a  darn  fool,' and  he  con- 
sidered such  a  candid  admission  very  creditable  to  him." 

"  These  people  must  have  had  a  pretty  rough  time  for 
a  while  after  reconstruction  commenced.  They  tell  me 
that,  at  the  election  of  1868,  nearly  forty  thousand  of 
their  best  men  were  denied  the  ballot,  and,  consequently, 
that  the  leaders  of  the  negroes  had  every  thing  their  own 
way.  It  seems  that  the  Legislature  elected  at  that  time 
authorized  the  issuance  of  State  bonds  in  aid  of  rail- 
road building  to  the  amount  of  over  $22,000,000  ;  that 
the  first  of  these  bonds  were  sold  at  seventy  cents  on 
the  dollar,  and  that  the  selling  was  kept  up  as  long  as 
any  thing  at  all  could  be  got  for  them,  but  that  no  rail- 
roads were  built  with  the  proceeds.  This  circumstance 
is  adduced  simply  as  an  indication  of  the  way  the  State  was 
governed  at  that  period.  But  several  gentlemen  tell  me 
that  the  worst  evils  arose  from  the  denial  of  justice  in  the 
courts.  They  agree  in  ascribing  the  Ku-Klux  outrages, 
of  which  we  heard  so  much,  to  that  cause,  and  are  very 
earnest  in  declaring  that  those  disorders  had  no  political 
significance.  I  guess  that  a  distance  of  five  hundred 
miles  is  a  little  too  long  a  range  for  an  accurate  observa- 
tion of  what  is  taking  place  in  a  community." 

"  It  won't  do  to  say  that  given  facts  have  a  constant 
evidential  weight,  and  justify  the  same  conclusion  under 
all  circumstances.  In  the  older  States  of  the  North, 
such  farm-houses  as  we  have  passed  to-day,  and  such  a 
total  absence  of  ornamentation,  might  be  taken  as  con- 
clusive evidence  of  poverty.  But,  from  what  we  have 
seen  of  these  farmers,  as  they  have  been  coming  into  the 
towns  to  trade,  we  know  that  many  of  them  are  quite 


JOURNEYING    SOUTHWARD.  135 

well-to-do.  This  is  one  of  the  things  that  can't  be  ex- 
plained on  the  jump,  because  it  is  a  general  outcome  of 
a  great  many  co-operating  influences.  It  is  certain  that 
you  can't  deduce  from  these  appearances  any  conclusion 
as  to  the  worthiness  or  unworthiness  of  the  people,  or  as 
to  their  rank  in  the  scale  of  intelligence.  You  may  ride 
along  a  country  road  in  New  England  for  twenty  miles, 
and  see  everywhere  the  same  evidences  of  taste  and  re- 
gard for  comfort  ;  but  when  you  come  to  investigate  the 
characters  of  the  proprietors,  you  find  them  distributed  all 
up  and  down  the  scale  of  social  worth.  Still,  I  think  the 
growing  up  of  a  general  disposition  to  give  more  attention 
to  such  points  of  taste  and  comfort  would  be  salutary 
to  these  people.  It  would  certainly  help  them  to  secure 
such  an  immigration  as  most  of  them  seem  to  desire." 

"  I  thought  I  was  pretty  well  braced  against  the  prac- 
tice of  generalizing  too  briskly,  but  I  find  that  my 
tendency  in  that  direction  will  bear  a  good  deal  of 
watching.  I  have  made  half  a  dozen  sweeping  state- 
ments to  myself  about  these  mountaineers,  and  have  had 
them  all  upset.  There  are  some  superficial  points  grow- 
ing out  of  their  isolation  and  their  necessary  mode  of 
life,  and  some  physical  effects  of  climate,  that  are  com- 
mon to  them  all  ;  but  when  you  get  down  to  their  intel- 
lectual habits  and  their  heart-forces,  you  find  as  great 
a  variety  here  as  anywhere  else.  I  suppose  that  this 
idiotic  disposition  to  jump  at  sweeping  conclusions  in 
regard  to  classes,  races,  and  populations,  is  the  parent  of 
more  stupid  prejudices  than  have  ever  sprung  from  any 
other  source  except  inborn  jackassism.  The  trouble  is 
that  the  disposition  is  apt  to  be  backed  up  by  a  pretty 
forcible  current  of  malignity." 

"  Knowing   that    the   public    school   system   was    of 


136  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

recent  introduction  in  this  State,  I  was  prepared  for  the 
observation  of  a  much  denser  ignorance  than  I  have 
found  here.  But  I  have  heard  some  surprising  state- 
ments about  the  manner  in  which  men  used  to  come 
along  and  get  up  schools  by  subscription  in  the  different 
neighborhoods,  and  have  been  told  of  instances  in  which 
children  were  sent  on  horseback  to  schools  six  or  seven 
miles  away.  I  have  been  told  also  that  the  practice  of 
stump-speaking,  which  was  carried  to  great  lengths  here, 
contributed  very  largely  to  the  enlightenment  of  the 
people,  inasmuch  as  they  all  heard  both  sides  of  every 
public  question  discussed  very  fully.  You  know  that  the 
opposing  candidates  were  in  the  habit  of  making  their 
canvasses  jointly.  I  wonder  how  that  would  work  in  our 
latitude.  I  am  afraid  we  should  have  some  conscientious 
scruples  about  listening  to  any  arraignment  of  our  respec- 
tive parties.  I  know  I  was  brought  up  to  class  Demo- 
cratic documents  with  Tom  Paine's  '  Age  of  Reason.'  " 

"  I  don't  see  any  grounds  for  distress  on  account  of  our 
colored  fellow-citizens.  They  seem  to  feel  that  existence 
is  an  enjoyable  sort  of  an  affair  after  all  ;  and  I  am  be- 
ginning to  suspect  that  the  '  Negro  problem,'  about  which 
men  fear  and  tremble  so  excessively,  is  a  very  unsubstan- 
tial bug-bear.  The  dangers  incident  to  a  period  of  transi- 
tion have  passed  away,  and  the  reciprocal  relations  of  the 
races  seem  to  be  adjusting  themselves  in  accordance 
with  unchangeable  laws.  So  far  as  governmental  action 
may  affect  the  case,  we  should  all  feel  interested  in  hav- 
ing the  roads  to  welfare  kept  open  to  the  blacks  as  com- 
pletely as  to  the  whites.  To  this  extent  every  citizen  has 
a  responsibility  ;  but  every  thing  else  can  be  left  to  the 
celestial  plan.  To  say  that  two  classes  cannot  live  to- 
gether in  harmony  without  social  intermingling,  is  the 


JOURNEYING    SOUTHWARD.  137 

sheerest  nonsense  in  the  world.  Such  co-existences  are 
lying  open  to  view  right  under  the  noses  of  all  men." 

When  we  were  nearing  the  border  of  South  Carolina,  I 
wrote  Colonel  Orlington  for  permission  to  bring  a  friend 
to  his  house,  and  received  a  very  cordial  invitation  to  do 
so.  The  time  of  our  arrival  was  inopportune  for  an  ex- 
tended visit.  It  was  Friday  evening,  and  the  family  had 
arranged  to  attend  the  annual  meeting  of  a  Baptist  Asso- 
ciation, to  be  held  Saturday  and  Sunday  at  a  country 
church  some  twenty  miles  distant.  We  found  that  a 
General  Bracknell,  on  his  way  to  the  same  meeting,  was 
stopping  for  the  night  with  the  Orlingtons  ;  and  we  met 
there,  also,  a  Spartanburg  lawyer  by  the  name  of  Klerg- 
ham,  who  had  been  attending  a  session  of  the  court  in 
the  adjoining  county.  From  the  time  of  our  leaving 
New  York  the  prospect  of  meeting  Miss  Orlington  once 
more  had  been  one  of  growing  interest  to  me,  and  this 
visit  had  gradually  become  an  event  of  great  magnitude 
in  my  anticipations.  It  can  be  understood,  therefore, 
that  I  regarded  myself,  at  first,  in  the  light  of  an  injured 
man.  The  fixing  upon  just  that  time  for  the  associa- 
tional  meeting  was  a  matter  for  which  the  Baptists  of 
upper  South  Carolina  owed  me  an  apology  ;  and  most 
assuredly,  if  those  two  visitors  had  not  been  my  enemies, 
they  would  have  stayed  away.  What  right  had  they  to 
come  and  make  all  conversation  between  Miss  Orlington 
and  myself  impossible  ?  I  was  conscious  that  my  vexa- 
tion made  me  appear  to  a  disadvantage,  and  this  consid- 
eration vexed  me  more  than  any  thing  else.  My  readers 
may  say  that  my  feelings  were  unreasonable  ;  but  I 
should  like  to  see  them  display  any  better  sense  under 
similar  circumstances. 

Jorman  saw  that  the  best  thing  he  could  do  for  me  was 


138  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

to  draw  attention  away  from  me.  He  talked  rapidly, 
therefore,  on  such  topics  as  he  thought  would  interest 
the  company  most.  He  was  full  of  enthusiasm  about 
the  beauty  of  that  part  of  the  country,  and  spoke  very 
warmly  concerning  the  mountain  scenery  of  western 
North  Carolina.  Finally,  in  speaking  of  a  particular 
prospect,  he  said  :  "  I  told  Nolly  that  nothing  in  the 
Alps  could  surpass  it "  ;  and  as  he  said  "  Nolly,"  he 
turned  his  thumb  toward  me. 

"  I  thought  your  first  name  was  George,"  said  Colonel 
Orlington,  looking  at  me  with  surprise. 

This  led  Jorman  to  give  a  very  laughable  account  of 
the  way  in  which  he  had  come  to  bestow  upon  me  my  new 
name  ;  and  I  think  he  managed,  without  causing  me  any 
embarrassment,  to  create  an  impression  quite  favorable  to 
me.  The  result  was  that,  when  we  left  the  supper-table 
and  assembled  in  the  parlor,  I  was  able,  at  least,  to  listen 
civilly  to  what  others  chose  to  say.  Having  accom- 
plished his  object,  my  friend  gave  up  the  lead  of  the 
conversation,  and  listened  respectfully  while  the  three 
Southerners  interchanged  views  on  matters  of  common 
interest  to  the  people  of  their  section.  Not  a  word  was 
said  on  any  political  topic  ;  but  their  thoughts  were  ob- 
viously centred  on  the  material  prospects  of  the  South. 
I  observed  there,  as  I  had  all  along  my  route,  the  signs 
of  a  rapidly  growing  hopefulness.  After  the  conversa- 
tion had  run  in  that  channel  for  some  time,  General 
Bracknell  said  : 

"  We  shall  get  upon  our  feet  eventually,  and  I  hope 
we  shall  then  acquit  ourselves  in  such  a  manner  that  our 
fellow-citizens  at  the  North  will  begin  to  entertain  a 
better  opinion  of  us.  Do  you  think  that  will  ever  come 
about,  Mr.  Bidrop  ?  " 


JOURNEYING    SOUTHWARD.  139 

This  appeal  to  me  was  evidently  a  simple  act  of  polite- 
ness on  the  General's  part.  I  had  remained  entirely 
silent,  and  he  felt  that  my  presence  ought  to  be  no  longer 
ignored.  But  he  happened  to  ask  my  opinion  as  to  a 
matter  on  which  I  had  often  reflected,  and  so  I  was 
prepared  to  reply  : 

"  Undoubtedly  the  truth  will  find  its  way  in  time,  both 
from  the  South  and  from  the  North.  Still,  the  miscon- 
ceptions which  have  been  prevalent  so  long  in  the  two 
sections  are  very  tenacious  of  life.  I  have  excellent 
friends  at  the  North — very  intelligent  persons,  and  dis- 
posed to  do  justice  to  every  one,  whom  I  know  to  be 
strongly  attached  to  me,  and  ready  to  accept  my  testi- 
mony on  any  other  subject  without  reservation.  But 
when  I  give  them  the  results  of  my  observation  in  the 
South  they  seem  to  be  simply  incapable  of  taking  them 
in.  I  find  similar  difficulty  here  in  securing  acceptance 
for  just  views  concerning  the  Northern  people.  But  this 
state  of  things  cannot  last  forever.  The  rapidly  growing 
intercourse  between  the  two  sections  is  such  that  the 
time  is  sure  to  come  when  the  North  and  South  will 
understand  each  other,  and  see  how  greatly  they  have 
misjudged  each  other  in  the  past." 

The  General  listened  to  me  very  attentively,  and  con- 
tinued to  look  at  me  in  a  respectful  way  for  a  moment 
after  I  had  ceased  speaking. 

"  There  is  something  for  us  all  to  think  of  in  what  you 
say,"  he  responded,  at  length. 

Then  Jorman  took  up  the  subject  and  philosophized 
on  the  causes  of  the  mutual  misunderstanding,  making 
us  see  that  it  indicated  no  special  depravity  on  either 
side,  and  placing  it  in  the  light  of  an  inevitable  but  tem- 
porary misfortune. 


140  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

Before  we  separated  for  the  night  my  friend  managed 
to  secure  a  brief  interview  with  Mrs.  Orlington  and  her 
daughter,  but  I  was  unable  to  join  the  trio,  on  account 
of  a  conversation  into  which  the  Colonel  had  drawn  me 
by  speaking  of  his  early  intimacy  with  my  father.  All 
that  I  had  opportunity  to  say  to  the  ladies  was,  "  Good- 
night." 

Jorman  and  I  occupied  the  same  room,  and  he  gave 
me  a  little  comfort  which  I  felt  the  need  of  very  decided- 
ly. "  You  have  no  occasion  to  be  down  in  the  mouth," 
he  said.  "  Your  glumness  has  been  interpreted  as  def- 
erence to  older  persons.  And  then  your  splendid  strike, 
in  winning  the  very  marked  respect  of  the  General, 
helped  you  to  more  than  you  could  have  gained  by  six 
hours  of  limberness  in  chattering.  The  ladies  gave  me 
to  understand  that  he  is  one  of  the  old  hero-saints,  like 
Havelock  and  Stonewall  Jackson,  and  they  hold  him  in 
great  veneration.  But  I  have  something  better  still  to 
tell  you.  That  incident  enabled  me  to  discover  the 
attitude  of  the  young  lady's  heart.  When  the  General 
made  that  appeal  to  you  she  turned  suddenly  pale  and 
was  all  in  a  quiver  of  anxiety.  She  was  n't  certain  that 
your  modesty  would  n't  cause  you  to  make  a  fool  of 
yourself.  But  when  you  began  to  talk  in  that  self-pos- 
sessed and  sensible  way,  the  color  got  back  into  her  face, 
and  one  of  the  finest  gleams  I  ever  saw  came  into  her 
eyes.  That  respectful  look  which  the  old  hero  gave  you 
after  you  had  stopped  talking  set  her  cup  to  running 
over.  She  would  like  to  go  out  and  join  the  mocking- 
birds in  giving  us  a  concert.  If  you  should  get  up  a  few 
more  affairs  like  that  breaking-down  of  your  buggy  and 
its  sequences,  I  don't  know  but  I  should  begin  to  talk 
about  providential  occurrences,  like  the  rest  of  you.  I 


JOURNEYING    SOUTHWARD.  141 

told  the  ladies  about  your  mother  and  sister,  and  the 
probability  of  their  having  them  for  neighbors.  I  thought 
it  best  for  them  to  know  that  you  had  made  a  first  pay- 
ment on  Ellermere,  and  I  saw  that  you  might  not  have  a 
good  chance  to  work  the  matter  in  yourself.  The  old 
lady  evinced  a  sincere  pleasure  at  this  communication, 
and  Miss  Orlington  made  a  signally  unsuccessful  effort 
to  avoid  evincing  any  thing." 

All  this  was  exceedingly  gratifying  to  me,  of  course  ; 
but  I  was  still  unable  to  recover  my  habitual  sanguine- 
ness.  The  difficulties  to  be  encountered  in  carrying  out 
my  undertaking  presented  themselves,  as  I  lay  awake, 
with  a  formidableness  of  aspect  which  I  had  not  pre- 
viously recognized.  Though  my  purpose  did  not  waver 
for  an  ins  tant,  I  saw  so  many  ways  in  which  it  was  pos- 
sible for  me  to  be  defeated,  that  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  re- 
frain from  endeavoring,  on  that  occasion,  to  stimulate  Miss 
Orlington's  interest  in  me.  I  really  did  not  desire  that 
she  should  give  me  her  heart  as  irrecoverably  as  I  had 
given  her  mine,  until  I  could  acquire  the  unincumbered 
ownership  of  Ellermere.  Somehow,  I  had  come  to  re- 
gard the  possession  of  that  property  as  a  condition  pre- 
cedent to  my  soliciting  her  affections  without  sinning 
against  her.  But  I  had  no  opportunity  in  the  morning 
for  more  than  the  utterance  of  a  few  commonplaces, 
since  all  were  busy  in  preparing  to  start  away.  When  I 
was  hitching  up  my  horse,  John  said  to  me. 

"  Ma  says  you  've  bought  Ellermere.  We  "re  all 
mighty  glad  to  hear  it." 

"  Yes  "  ;  I  answered,  "  I  have  paid  $2,500  on  the  place. 
But  I  have  got  to  pay  $5,000  more,  and  I  shall  have  a 
hard  struggle  to  raise  it." 

"  I   reckon  you  '11  fetch  it  round,"  was  the  the  cheery 


142  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

response.  "  You  don't  act  like  a  fellow  that  gets  beat 
very  often." 

As  soon  as  we  were  on  our  way,  Jorman  said  :  "  You 
thought  you  did  n't  make  love  this  morning.  But  the 
embarrassment,  which  grew  out  of  the  restraint  you  had 
imposed  on  yourself,  was  a  stronger  declaration  than 
you  could  have  put  into  words.  I  '11  bet  you  that  Miss 
Orlington  thinks  the  presence  of  witnesses  was  the  only 
thing  that  kept  you  from  throwing  yourself  at  her  feet. 
Well,  I  feel  pretty  comfortably  about  all  this  business. 
I  believe  you  '11  fit  in  to  a  charm  among  these  people  ; 
and  I  have  no  concern  about  your  mother  and  sister, 
now  that  I  have  seen  the  Orlington  ladies." 

I  must  pass  over  the  remainder  of  our  month  in  South 
Carolina.  Jorman  busied  himself  in  framing  concep- 
tions of  the  old  plantation-life  ;  inquiring  into  the  recent 
political  history  of  the  State  ;  philosophizing  about  the 
effects  of  the  enormous  changes  and  heart-stirring  ex- 
periences of  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  on  the  charac- 
ters of  the  people  ;  noting  the  points  of  difference  be- 
tween the  freedmen,  who  were  sparsely  scattered  among 
the  whites  in  the  upper  country,  and  those  who  were 
thickly  massed  in  the  lower  counties,  and  tracing  the 
bearings  of  observable  causes  on  the  probable  future  of 
the  colored  race. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

SOJOURNING    IN    FLORIDA. 

the  second  of  February,  we  took  rooms  at  the  St. 

James  Hotel  in  Jacksonville,  and  the  same  day  I 
found  the  little  cottage  in  which  Mrs.  Erdby  had  estab- 
lished herself  with  a  maiden  sister,  Miss  Kitty,  and 
Charley.  It  was  less  than  two  squares  from  the  hotel, 
and  we  soon  formed  the  habit  of  dropping  in  there  nearly 
every  evening.  There  was  nothing  in  my  friend's  ap- 
pearance to  indicate  that  his  estimate  of  Mrs.  Erdby  had 
been  materially  changed  by  the  disclosure  which  he  had 
obtained  in  Boston.  He  had  spoken  to  me  on  that  sub- 
ject with  evident  feeling,  soon  after  my  return  from  the 
West,  but  had  subsequently  dismissed  it  from  his  mind, 
or  set  it  apart  as  a  subject  not  to  be  discussed.  Several 
allusions  to  it  on  my  part,  had  failed  to  elicit  a  response 
from  him.  The  general  tone  of  his  conversation,  at  the 
cottage,  was  more  serious  than  that  of  his  talks  at  West- 
bay  ;  and  whenever  he  fell  into  one  of  his  whimsical 
moods,  he  addressed  himself  to  "  Miss  Loyalty,"  as  he 
uniformly  called  Miss  Kitty.  My  own  sentiments  were 
affected  very  slightly  by  the  matter  which  had  been  un- 
earthed. I  have  a  constitutional  distaste  for  scandal, 
which  makes  me  slow  in  allowing  my  estimates  of  per- 
sons to  be  changed  by  statements  which  can  be  suspected 
of  having  that  character.  Perhaps,  too,  an  egotistical 
confidence  in  my  pre-conceptions  work  in  the  same 

143 


144  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

direction.  In  this  case,  Mrs.  Erdby's  personality 
marred  by  past  impurity  was  simply  unthinkable  to  me. 
I  never,  for  an  instant,  admitted  to  myself  the  possibility 
of  such  a  fact  ;  and  Charles  Erdby's  language,  at  the 
close  of  his  letter,  seemed  to  me  to  be  clearly  that  of  a 
man  who  knew  he  was  making  a  false  charge.  I  made 
no  attempt  to  solve  the  mystery  connected  with  the  notes 
and  checks,  but  confidently  assumed  that  it  could  be  ex- 
plained without  the  supposition  of  any  great  fault  on 
Mrs.  Erdby's  part. 

We  met  at  the  cottage  a  young  man,  just  graduated 
from  Harvard  University,  whose  name  was  Orrin  Bar- 
leek.  Mrs.  Erdby  told  us  that  he  was  a  native  of 
Parcelton,  that  she  had  known  him  from  his  babyhood, 
and  that  his  mother,  while  living,  had  been  her  own  most 
intimate  friend,  though  more  than  ten  years  older  than 
herself.  Orrin  and  Kitty  had  been  playmates  in  child- 
hood and  very  intimate  friends  in  later  years.  Mrs. 
Erdby's  house  in  Boston  had  been  his  principal  visiting- 
place  during  the  greater  part  of  his  course  at  the  uni- 
versity. He  had  come  into  possession  of  a  considerable 
fortune  by  inheritance  from  his  maternal  grandfather. 
He  was  a  very  handsome  young  fellow,  with  a  light  flush 
on  his  fair  cheeks,  deep  blue  eyes,  and  wavy  auburn 
hair.  He  had  a  lithe  figure,  and  his  movements  were  ex- 
ceedingly graceful.  While  very  witty  and  much  given 
to  provoking  merriment,  he  could  converse  brilliantly  on 
topics  of  serious  interest,  and  he  gave  evidence  of  a 
good  capacity  for  consecutive  thinking. 

As  Barleck  was  stopping  at  the  St.  James,  he  some- 
times accompanied  us  to  the  cottage,  and  we  were  aware 
that  he  often  passed  a  good  part  of  the  day  there.  But 
within  a  week  of  our  arrival,  we  began  to  see  that  a 


SOJOURNING    IN    FLORIDA.  145 

change  was  taking  place  in  his  appearance  and  his  way 
of  passing  his  time.  He  was  becoming  more  and  more 
intimate  with  a  set  of  young  men  who  were  so  intent 
upon  pleasure  that  they  were  disposed  to  enlarge  their 
capacity  for  it  by  the  use  of  stimulants.  As  I  was  con- 
stantly occupied,  in  the  day  time,  with  the  merchants  of 
the  city,  I  found  no  opportunity  to  work  against  the  in- 
fluence of  those  young  men,  but  Jorman  made  several 
unsuccessful  attempts  to  intercept  Barleck's  association 
with  them.  His  view  of  the  case  was  expressed  in  this  way : 
"  This  fit  of  devilism  has  got  to  run  its  course  with  our 
young  friend.  I  can  see  that  it  is  no  new  thing  with 
him.  If  it  was,  we  could  trust  to  the  morning  visit  of 
R.  E.  Morse,  and  easily  switch  him  off  on  to  another 
track.  But  he  has  worked  his  way  out  of  the  sphere  in 
which  that  matutinal  visitor  goes  his  rounds  and  tor- 
tures young  fellows  into  the  exercise  of  common-sense. 
There  is  no  use  in  throwing  all  the  blame  on  his  cronies. 
He  is  leading  them  more  than  they  are  leading  him.  If 
you  should  go  down  to  their  resort  at  midnight  you 
would  be  sure  to  find  Orrin  acting  as  prince  of  the  revels. 
His  inclination  to  this  particular  style  of  self-damnation 
must  have  become  almost  a  mania,  or  he  would  n't  have 
got  on  this  bender  with  Serena  and  Miss  Loyalty  looking 
on.  It  was  evident,  when  we  first  came  here,  that  their 
good  opinion  was  beyond  all  price  to  him.  What  is 
much  better,  the  scamp  has  a  good  deal  of  a  heart,  and 
before  he  got  into  this  hellward  rush  no  consideration 
could  have  induced  him  to  inflict  on  them  such  pain  as 
they  are  now  suffering.  Well,  I  know  just  how  this 
thing  has  got  to  turn  with  a  fellow  of  his  temperament. 
His  stomach,  fortunately,  can't  stand  such  rascally  treat- 
ment many  days.  I  will  keep  a  close  watch  upon  him, 


146  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

and  be  ready  to  take  charge  of  him  when  he  gets  sick. 
In  three  or  four  days  I  can  make  him  presentable  at  the 
cottage,  and  his  remorseful  recollections,  together  with 
his  affection  for  Serena  and  Miss  Loyalty,  will  be  apt  to 
keep  him  straight  the  rest  of  the  winter." 

The  evening  after  this  talk  Orrin  was  at  the  cottage  a 
little  more  than  half  an  hour.  A  person  unacquainted 
with  him  might  not  have  suspected  him  of  being  under 
the  influence  of  stimulants.  But  we  could  all  see  that 
his  eyes  had  a  glitter  which  did  not  belong  to  them,-  and 
the  natural  grace  of  his  movements  was  exchanged  for 
what  would  have  passed  among  strangers  as  a  very  dig- 
nified deportment.  It  was  plain  that  he  had  taken  it  into 
his  head  to  furnish  conclusive  evidence  of  his  sobriety. 
To  preclude  all  appearance  of  frivolity,  and  show  that  he 
had  "  put  away  childish  things,"  he  called  our  attention 
only  to  subjects  of  importance.  He  regarded  the  work 
of  President  McCosh  in  the  field  of  metaphysics  as  more 
valuable  than  that  of  Sir  William  Hamilton.  He  ques- 
tioned the  wisdom  of  excluding  Greek  from  the  com- 
pulsory curriculum  of  Harvard  University,  and  he  took 
a  hopeful  view  of  the  future  of  American  literature. 
Finally,  he  favored  us  with  his  conception  of  the  attitude 
of  the  South  toward  the  Federal  Government.  On  this 
point  he  said  : 

"  I  do  not  charge  upon  our  Southern  fellow-citizens 
any  stronger  proneness  to  evil,  than  that  which  charac- 
terizes us  of  the  North.  I  trust  that  I  am  superior  to 
vulgar  prejudices.  I  aim  to  keep  my  mind  free  from  all 
influences  which  would  tend,  even  slightly,  to  make  me 
unjust  in  my  opinions.  But  we  know  what  human  nature 
is,  and  we  know  the  force  of  historical  causes.  Now,  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  but  a  brief  period  has  elapsed 


SOJOURNING    IN    FLORIDA.  147 

since  the  men  of  the  South  were  arrayed  in  armed  hos- 
tility to  the  Federal  Government.  With  all  the  ardor 
characteristic  of  the  children  of  a  Southern  clime,  they 
struggled  for  that  government's  overthrow.  Had  they 
been  triumphant, — had  they  seen  their  foe  lying  prostrate 
at  their  feet,  bleeding  at  every  pore,  some  compunctious 
visitings  might  have  assuaged  the  violence  of  their  en- 
mity. But  having  been  defeated  and  forced  into  sub- 
jection to  the  government  which  they  had  striven  to  de- 
stroy, it  follows  from  the  inevitable  operation  of  the  laws  of 
human  nature,  that  their  hatred  has  been  greatly  intensi- 
fied. We  see,  therefore,  that  if  Southern  influence  shall 
ever  make  itself  felt  in  national  legislation  and  adminis- 
tration, it  will  be  felt  for  poisoning,  for  emasculation,  and 
for  disintegration.  Hence,  the  voice  of  patriotism  calls 
upon  us  to  guard  every  avenue  by  which  that  baleful  in- 
fluence could  possibly  penetrate  to  the  vitals  of  the  Fed- 
eral Government." 

Soon  after  this  deliverance,  the  eyes  of  the  young  man 
began  to  lose  their  fire,  and  a  slight  pallor  come  over  his 
face.  He  looked  at  his  watch,  spoke  of  an  engagement, 
and  took  his  leave  for  the  night.  The  situation  was  em- 
barrassing for  us  all,  since  none  of  us  felt  that  the  time 
had  come  for  making  what  was  occupying  all  our  minds 
a  subject  of  conversation.  Kitty  seated  herself  at  the 
piano  for  the  purpose  of  concealing  her  face  from  view, 
but  declined  to  play  or  sing,  on  the  ground  that  she 
wished  to  commit  a  song  to  memory.  For  myself,  it 
seemed  to  me  impossible  to  construct  a  remark  of  any 
kind.  At  length,  Mrs.  Erdby  asked  Jorman  if  she  was  cor- 
rect in  thinking  him  to  be  an  alumnus  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity. He  answered  affirmatively,  and  spoke  at  some 
length  on  the  general  character  of  the  institution.  Fi- 


148  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

nally,  he   worked  his  way  into  personal  reminiscences 
and  went  on  as  follows  : 

"  However  it  may  be  with  others,  I  think  the  vicinity 
of  so  large  a  city  as  Boston  was  a  disadvantage  to  me. 
When  a  young  fellow  is  working  pretty  hard  to  maintain 
a  fair  standing  in  his  class,  he  is  apt  to  unbend  with  a 
spring  which  makes  him  a  little  giddy  in  his  hours  of 
leisure.  He  likes  to  be  thoroughly  diverted  and  to  be 
conscious  of  freedom  from  all  tension  in  his  faculties. 
For  this  reason  scenes  of  hilarity  are  exceedingly  attrac- 
tive to  him.  In  a  city  like  Boston  a  young  man  can 
easily  find  his  way  to  such  scenes  ;  but,  unfortunately, 
in  nearly  every  instance,  the  hilarity  is  promoted  by  the 
use  of  stimulants.  Still,  there  is  nothing  in  the  sur- 
roundings repulsive  to  a  refined  taste  ;  and  there  lies  in 
this  fact  one  of  the  special  dangers  to  be  encountered  by 
young  men  in  large  cities.  In  a  village,  all  the  places, 
where  men  get  together  for  purposes  of  conviviality, 
have  such  an  atmosphere  of  coarseness  that  there  seems 
to  be  a  certain  degradation  in  entering  them.  But  in  a  large 
city  one  can  always  find  drinking  saloons  where  every 
thing  is  ordered  with  a  view  to  aesthetic  effect,  and  where 
nothing  of  vulgarity  is  ever  permitted  to  show  itself.  I 
confess  that  such  places  became  very  attractive  to  me  ; 
and  of  course  I  had  to  pay  the  penalty.  I  became  very 
fond  of  frolicking  before  I  graduated,  and  it  took  me 
some  time  to  get  the  proclivity  under  control.  But  my 
own  experience  has  taught  me  that  it  is  entirely  unneces- 
sary to  conclude  that  a  young  man's  case  is  hopeless, 
because  he  gets  off  the  track  once  in  a  while  during  a 
period  of  relaxation.  The  responsibilities  of  manhood 
and  the  bracing  efficacy  of  established  purposes  may  be 
expected  to  prove  an  adequate  corrective." 


SOJOURNING    IN    FLORIDA.  149 

This  speech  evidently  afforded  the  ladies  some  relief. 
Kitty  turned  upon  the  piano-stool,  with  her  head  resting 
on  her  hand  and  looked  at  the  speaker  intently.  With 
something  like  a  prayer  in  her  tones,  Mrs.  Erdby  said  : 

"  It  is  natural  that,  with  such  an  experience,  you 
should  take  an  interest  in  a  gifted  and  generous  young 
man  whom  you  see  to  be  in  danger." 

"  I  certainly  do,"  said  Jorman  ;  and  we  returned  to 
our  hotel. 

"  Well,"  said  my  friend,  as  we  lit  our  cigars  and  seated 
ourselves  on  the  piazza,  "  they  may  talk  about  their  quod 
erats  till  they  are  gray  ;  but  nothing  can  match  the  con- 
clusiveness  of  a  demonstration  of  sobriety." 

That  was  the  sum  of  our  conversation  at  that  sitting  ; 
but  the  long  delayed  tribute  to  the  ludicrousness  of  what 
we  had  witnessed  was  fully  paid  before  we  went  to  bed. 

The  next  morning  Barleck  and  one  of  his  constant 
companions  were  seen  to  be  much  exhilarated  before 
breakfast.  Jorman  watched  for  him  and  accosted  him 
several  times  in  the  course  of  the  day,  but  could  not 
persuade  him  to  stop  and  listen  for  even  a  moment. 
When  evening  came,  I  suggested  that  we  omit  our  usual 
vist  to  the  cottage,  since  we  could  make  no  report  which 
would  not  be  painful. 

"  That  would  n't  be  right,"  said  Jorman.  "  Some- 
thing may  come  up  that  will  show  us  how  we  can  help 
the  poor  women.  At  all  events,  we  must  n't  turn  the 
cold  shoulder  to  them  at  such  a  time  as  this.  I  will  tell 
Serena  frankly,  that  Orrin's  stomach  is  sure  to  break 
down  in  a  day  or  two,  and  that  I  shall  watch  for  the 
first  moment  when  I  can  take  him  in  charge." 

We  walked  to  the  cottage  with  much  the  sajn.e  feel- 
ings that  we  should  have  experienced  if  we  had  been 


150  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

about  to  attend  funeral  services  at  the  house  of  a  dear 
friend  ;  and  our  reception  was  what  one  would  have  ex- 
pected on  entering  a  house  of  mourning.  The  salutations 
were  barely  audible.  Miss  Kitty  looked  long  and  ear- 
nestly at  the  hall-door,  and  then  turned  her  face  away. 
Miss  Evalstone,  the  sister  of  Mrs.  Erdby,  seemed  to 
think  that  we  were  treated  impolitely,  and  made  an  ef- 
fort to  introduce  conversation.  This  lady  was  some 
years  older  than  Mrs.  Erdby,  more  slender,  and  in  poor 
health.  We  learned  that  her  vocation,  for  many  years, 
had  been  that  of  a  teacher  in  primary  schools. 

At  length,  the  subject  that  was  engrossing  the  thoughts 
of  us  all  was  brought  out  frankly,  though  with  a  visible 
effort. 

"  Have  you  seen  Orrin  to-day  ?"  Mrs.  Erdby  asked. 

"  I  met  him  several  times,"  Jorman  answered,  "  but  was 
not  able  to  secure  his  attention.  He  was  in  company 
with  others." 

"  Were  his  companions  such  as  you  would  have  chosen 
for  him  ?" 

"  They  were  not." 

"  No  ;  they  were  not  !  "  Kitty  exclaimed,  springing  to 
her  feet  and  gesticulating  passionately.  "  But  you  could 
let  them  drag  him  away.  If  you  and  Mr.  Bidrop  can 
only  have  a  good  time,  you  don't  care  what  becomes  of 
Orrin.  You  might  have  got  him  away  from  the  villains 
if  you  had  tried."  She  threw  herself  upon  the  sofa  and 
broke  into  convulsive  weeping. 

"  Why  Kitty  !  "  said  Miss  Evalstone,  "  I  am  astonished 
at  you.  What  will  the  gentle " 

"  Sarah "  said  Mrs.  Erdby,  quietly,  but  with  more 
sternness  than  I  had  ever  witnessed  in  her  before,  "  I 
ask  you  to  stop  ;  "  and  she  crossed  over  to  the  sofa  and 


SOJOURNING    IN    FLORIDA.  151 

folded  the  poor  girl  in  her  arms.  "  There,  there  dar- 
ling," she  said.  "  It  is  no  wonder  that  you  lost  control 
of  yourself  in  thinking  of  this  terrible  calamity  to  your 
old  playmate.  We  can't  have  it  so.  There  must  be 
some  way, — let  us  all  try  to  think." 

I  was  convinced  that  some  saving  measure  would  be  pro- 
posed, but  could  not  even  attempt  to  devise  one  myself  ; 
and  my  friend  afterwards  told  me  that  his  state  of  mind 
was  the  same.  After  the  silence  had  lasted  some  minutes, 
Mrs.  Erdby  asked,  without  lifting  her  eyes :  "  Does  not 
that  little  steamer  start  for  the  Ocklawaha  River  to-night  ?" 

"  There  !  "  said  Jorman,  whirling  toward  me  and 
speaking  fiercely.  "  I  've  tried  to  make  you  understand 
that  brains  are  valuable.  The  trouble  with  you  and  me 
is  that  we  don't  happen  to  have  any." 

"  Are  you  sure,"  she  asked,  "  that  you  can  go  without 
too  great  a  sacrifice  ?  " 

"Why,  my  dear  madam,"  said  Jorman,  "we  have  been 
thinking  about  making  the  trip,  and  have  inquired  about 
the  boat,  and  found  out  that  it  leaves  at  twelve  o'clock 
to-night.  But  we  had  not  sense  enough  to  think  of  the 
possibility  of  taking  Orrin  with  us." 

"  The  truth  is,  Mrs.  Erdby,"  said  I,  "  that  we  gave  up 
the  trip  for  this  week  because  Mr.  Jorman  said  he 
would  n't  leave  the  city  until  he  could  deliver  Orrin  to 
you  in  his  right  mind." 

"  I  thank  you,"  she  said,  with  emphasis,  giving  Jorman 
a  look  oi  gratitude  which  affected  him  visibly. 

"  The  only  difficulty  will  be  in  getting  him  to  accom- 
pany us,"  I  said. 

"  I  feel  sure  that  he  will  go,"  Mrs.  Erdby  replied. 

She  went  to  her  portfolio,  took  out  a  broad  sheet  of 
paper,  and  wrote,  in  a  large  hand  : 


152  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

"  DEAR  ORRIN  : — Mr.  Jorman  and  Mr.  Bidrop  are 
about  to  take  a  trip  up  the  Ocklawaha  ;  and,  as  the 
dearest  friend  of  your  mother,  I  feel  that  I  have  a  right 
to  insist  on  your  going  with  them.  JULIA  ERDBY." 

As  we  were  about  starting  on  our  mission,  Kitty  crept 
up  to  us,  gave  each  of  us  a  hand,  and  said,  timidly  : 

"  You  won't  hate  me  very  much  for  being  so  saucy, 
will  you  ?  " 

"  We  are  going  to  love  you  for  it,  Miss  Loyalty,"  said 
Jorman,  warmly.  This  brought  a  little  moisture  into 
Mrs.  Erdby's  eyes. 

On  our  way  to  the  hotel  Jorman  broke  the  silence  by 
saying  :  "  It  is  a  cursed  lie." 

"  Of  course  it  is,"  said  I  ;  "  I  never  believed  a  word 
of  it." 

"  Of  course  what  is  ?  What  are  you  talking  about  ?  " 
he  asked,  angrily. 

"  That  Boston  story  about  Serena." 

"  What  business  have  you  to  be  prying  into  my 
thoughts  ?  " 

We  stopped  at  the  hotel  only  long  enough  to  pack  our 
satchels  and  have  them  sent  to  the  boat,  and  to  give  in- 
formation of  our  intentions  at  the  office.  As  we  walked 
toward  the  resort  where  we  felt  sure  of  finding  the  young 
man,  a  picture  of  the  scene  on  which  we  were  about  to 
enter  formed  itself  in  my  mind,  and  as  good  luck  would 
have  it,  I  grew  very  angry  and  felt  as  strong  as  a  lion. 

"  I  will  have  him  out  of  there,"  I  said,  "  if  I  have  to 
whip  the  whole  gang  and  lug  him  off  on  my  shoulders." 

"  Good  for  you,"  said  my  companion,  "  If  you  get 
into  a  row  I  '11  slash  around  with  my  cane.  It  has  been 
out  of  my  line  for  some  years,  but  they  used  to  call  me 
pretty  lively  when  I  was  one  of  the  boys," 


SOJOURNING    IN    FLORIDA.  153 

We  had  no  trouble,  however,  though  it  is  probable 
that  the  expression  of  my  face  had  some  effect  when  I 
went  up  to  the  table  where  Orrin  and  his  companions 
were  sitting  with  cards  and  glasses  before  them.  The 
talking  and  laughing  ceased  at  once,  and  when  I  touched 
the  young  man's  shoulder  and  said  I  wished  to  speak 
with  him,  he  rose  to  his  feet  without  hesitation.  I  took 
him  near  a  gas-jet  and  held  Mrs.  Erdby's  note  before 
his  eyes.  He  looked  at  the  writing  in.  a  stolid  way  at 
first,  with  his  frame  tipping  backward  and  forward,  but 
gathered  in  the  meaning  of  the  appeal  at  last,  and  then 
locked  his  arm  into  mine  with  a  convulsive  movement. 
"  Come,  let  's  go.  Hurry,"  he  said. 

As  we  moved  toward  the  door  the  barkeeper  called 
out  :  "  See  here.  Who  pays  for  them  drinks  ?  " 

"  I  '11  pay  for  them,"  said  Jorman,  approaching  the  bar. 

"  Not  by  a  d — d  sight  you  don't,"  said  one  of  the 
young  men  at  the  table.  "  We  've  got  money  enough  to 
buy  forty  such  American  citizens  as  you  are." 

"  Very  well,"  was  the  reply,  "  I  congratulate  you  on 
your  affluence.  Good-night,  gentlemen." 

We  took  two  state-rooms  on  the  little  boat,  and  Jor- 
man said  :  "  I  will  occupy  No.  4  with  Orrin,  and  you 
can  keep  our  trumpery  in  No.  6.  There  are  several 
other  articles  to  be  got." 

About  twenty  minutes  afterwards  he  reappeared  and 
said  :  "  The  distinguished  guardian  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment against  Southern  influence  came  near  going  to 
sleep  before  I  could  get  him  undressed.  He  will  proba- 
bly sleep  four  or  five  hours,  though  he  may  wake  up  at 
any  moment.  You  had  better  stay  where  you  can  keep 
your  eye  on  his  door.  I  must  go  and  order  some  sup- 
plies before  the  stores  are  shut  up  ;  and  I  will  just  step 


154  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

up  to  the  cottage  and  let  Serena  know  how  beautifully 
her  plan  is  working." 

When  he  returned  he  had  a  package  of  dry  goods  un- 
der his  arm  and  was  attended  by  a  boy  who  brought  a 
basket  filled  with  bottles.  "  I  have  some  under-clothes 
and  a  clean  shirt  for  the  approver  of  American  litera- 
ture," he  said,  "  and  some  goods  which  possess  what  Old 
Delicious  would  call  '  the  property  of -liquidity.'  We  '11 
dump  them  all  into  Number  6.  Liquidity  is  an  unde- 
desirable  property  for  goods  to  be  kept  in  Number  4." 

Having  found  that  Orrin  was  sleeping  quietly,  we  went 
out  and  seated  ourselves  in  front  of  the  pilot-house, 
which  was  on  the  same  floor  with  the  cabin. 

"  From  the  number  of  bottles  you  are  taking  along,"  I 
said,  "  I  should  infer  that  you  intend  to  have  Orrin  con- 
tinue his  spree." 

"  I  don't  intend  to  have  any  snakes  in  his  boots,"  he 
said.  "  He  will  have  to  take  quite  a  number  of  drinks 
to-morrow,  and  a  few  the  next  day.  It  is  probable  that 
I  shall  give  him  whiskey,  but  I  may  see  reason  for  sub- 
stituting brandy.  I  shall  get  him  off  on  to  the  plane  of 
teetotalism  with  a  little  champagne.  Besides,  I  have  a 
preparation  of  bromide  and  some  of  Valentine's  meat 
juice.  You  could  n't  have  thought  of  all  these  things. 
Your  education  was  so  neglected  that  you  are  entirely 
helpless  in  this  department  of  beneficence.  But,  as  I 
had  my  fling  in  my  younger  days,  I  am  prepared  to  play 
the  philanthropist  over  an  extensive  range." 

"  Then  you  would  advise  all  young  men  to  obtain  such 
an  experience  as  Orrin  is  passing  through  now,  would 
you  ? " 

"  O  Nolly,  Nolly  !  "  he  replied,  laying  his  hand  heavily 
on  my  knee.  "  I  am  glad  you  are  religious  and  able,  in  all 


SOJOURNING    IN    FLORIDA.  155  > 

sincerity,  to  thank  your  God  for  keeping  you  hedged 
from  all  such  experiences.  The  people  who  find  it  so 
easy  to  roll  up  their  eyes  at  what  they  have  no  inclination 
to,  fancy  that  they  understand  something  about  the  ap- 
petite for  intoxicating  liquors.  They  are  greener  than 
cucumbers.  The  only  consoling  reflection  about  the 
vice  is  that  it  brings  a  punishment  in  this  life  which 
would  seem  to  be  quite  heavy  enough  to  satisfy  the  de- 
mands of  justice.  There  is  no  sufficient  measure  for 
the  suffering  crowded  into  the  nervous  reaction  which 
follows  a  debauch.  The  fellow  is  not  free  for  an  instant 
from  the  reflection  that  he  has  voluntarily  brought  all  the 
torture  upon  himself.  He  calls  himself  '  fool  !  fool  ! 
fool  !  '  and,  if  he  has  not  yet  reached  a  turning-point,  he 
constantly  hears  a  prophetic  whispering,  which  assures 
him  that  he  is  going  to  repeat  the  suicidal  folly  again  and 
again,  and  his  anticipations  can  lay  hold  of  nothing  but 
a  succession  of  hell-presences.  The  simple  truth  is,  that 
he  is  conscious  of  being  possessed  of  a  devil.  He 
knows,  too,  that  his  self-degradation  is  working  out 
affliction  for  all  who  care  for  him.  And  it  is  a  great 
mistake  to  suppose  that,  in  the  exceptional  cases  of  de- 
liverance from  the  demoniacal  possession,  the  punish- 
ment ceases  at  the  time  of  reformation.  The  foul 
images,  sure  to  be  fastened  upon  the  imagination  in 
seasons  of  debauchery,  can  never  be  annihilated,  and  a 
man  must  either  consent  to  their  presence  or  exhaust 
much  of  his  energy  in  repelling  them.  Any  casual  asso- 
ciation, by  reproducing  a  disgraceful  incident,  may  cause 
one  to  be  almost  suffocated  with  a  sense  of  degradation. 
I  tell  you,  Nolly,  that  there  is  a  blessedness  which  you 
cannot  begin  to  appreciate  in  your  not  being  subject  to 
such  visitations  from  the  past." 


156  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

"  The  government,"  said  I,  "  ought  to  make  such  ex- 
periences impossible  by  preventing  the  sale  or  manufac- 
ture of  the  accursed  stuff." 

"  Well,  there  are  a  good  many  sides  to  that  question. 
It  is  about  as  complicated  as  the  subject  of  a  protective 
tariff.  I  have  never  felt  that  the  settlement  of  it  was 
any  part  of  my  mission,  though  I  have  had  a  great  many 
thoughts  about  it.  My  general  theory  in  regard  to  legis- 
lation is  favorable  to  a  restriction  of  its  sphere.  You 
can't  go  too  far  in  the  way  of  excluding  possibilities  of 
perversion  without  curtailing  possibilities  of  develop- 
ment. The  habit  of  relying  upon  governmental  coercion 
is  one  that  can  easily  be  carried  too  far.  Take  the  case 
we  are  considering.  Within  this  generation  there  has 
been  an  incalculable  amount  of  force  expended  with 
the  design  of  making  total  abstinence  compulsory. 
Suppose  that  entire  volume  of  force  had  been  directed  to 
the  inculcation  of  self-control  and  to  the  lifting  up  of 
standards  of  manly  worth,  calculated  to  evoke  noble 
aspirations,  would  not  the  cause  of  temperance  have 
made  greater  progress  than  it  has  made  ?  But  there  is 
another  consideration  which  has  great  weight  with  me. 
Looking  to  my  own  welfare,  I  am  heartily  glad  that  tem- 
perance is  not,  and  never  has  been,  compulsory  with  me. 
I  am  glad  that  I  have  had  an  opportunity  to  fight  my  way 
to  the  voluntary  practice  of  that  virtue.  My  natural 
make-up  is  on  the  flabby  order,  and  if  I  had  n't  been 
compelled  to  choose  between  going  through  a  tremen- 
dous struggle,  and  going  straight  to  hell,  I  don't  see  how 
I  could  ever  have  gained  any  strength  of  character.  I 
say,  to-day,  that  I  would  accept  the  certainty  of  being 
overcome  by  my  appetite  occasionally  before  I  would 
give  up  the  possibility  of  voluntary  temperance  in  the 


SOJOURNING    IN    FLORIDA.  157 

midst  of  temptations.  I  crave  unlimited  power  for 
making  a  fool  of  myself,  because  it  is  only  on  that  con- 
dition that  I  can  take  to  myself  any  credit  for  practical 
wisdom." 

•I  shall  have  to  pass  over  the  incidents  of  our  trip  very 
hastily.  The  next  morning  we  found  ourselves  at  Palat- 
ka  ;  and  we  entered  the  mouth  of  the  Ocklawaha  about 
noon.  That  stream  is  so  narrow  and  crooked  that  only 
stern-wheeled  boats  can  be  used  on  it.  Besides,  each 
boat  is  furnished  with  two  rudders,  one  of  which  is 
thrown  directly  back  of  the  wheel  in  making  a  short 
turn,  so  that  the  force  of  the  wheel-water  is  utilized  for 
steering  the  craft.  For  the  first  hundred  miles,  there  is 
no  outlook  beyond  a  few  rods  in  extent ;  but  the  forest- 
growth,  with  the  gigantic  cypresses,  the  tall  and  slender 
palmettoes,  the  swamp-hollies  covered  with  scarlet  ber- 
ries, the  vines  interweaving  everywhere,  and  the  luxuriant 
shrubbery  at  the  water's  edge,  presents  so  many  fantastic 
forms,  and  is  so  utterly  different  from  any  thing  to  be 
seen  at  the  North,  that  one  never  tires  of  looking. 

On  the  second  morning  we  were  in  Silver  Spring — a 
spring  with  no  visible  inlet,  which  gives  out  a  navigable 
stream  nine  miles  long.  The  water  is  so  pellucid,  that 
the  smallest  objects  are  plainly  visible  at  a  depth  of  more 
than  fifty  feet.  In  returning  to  the  Ocklawaha  down  the 
"  Run,"  as  the  stream  furnished  by  the  spring  is  called, 
one  sees  the  fishes  darting  about  as  plainly  as  if  they  were 
flitting  in  the  air.  I  am  told  that,  since  the  extension  of 
railroads  to  the  lake  region  of  Sumter  County,  the  Ock- 
lawaha, above  the  mouth  of  Silver  Spring  Run,  is  not 
often  navigated.  But,  at  the  time  of  which  I  am  writing, 
all  communication  of  that  region  with  the  world  outside 
was  by  that  river.  On  the  second  afternoon  we  were 


158  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

passing  through  a  prairie,  which  is  sometimes  dry  and 
sometimes  overflown.  As  one  ascends  the  stream,  this 
prairie  gradually  spreads  from  a  width  of  one  fourth  of  a 
mile  to  a  width  of  eight  miles.  We  entered  Lake  Griffin 
a  little  before  sundown,  and  after  traversing  its  entire 
length  found  ourselves  at  the  growing  town  of  Leesburg. 
The' next  morning  we  were  still  near  Leesburg,  but  on  its 
eastern  side  instead  of  its  western  side,  having  reached 
that  point  by  steaming  more  than  thirty  miles  after  put- 
ting out  from  the  Lake  Griffin  landing  of  the  town.  On 
our  return  we  passed  through  all  the  lakes — Harris, 
Eustis,  and  Griffin — by  daylight  ;  and  the  scenery  was 
exceedingly  fascinating  to  me. 

I  shall  make  no  record  of  Orrin's  recovery  from  his 
debauch.  Such  events,  unhappily,  are  so  common  that 
no  description  of  them  is  needed.  There  was  enough  to 
justify  all  that  Jorman  had  said  concerning  the  suffering 
incident  to  such  experiences.  It  seemed  to  me  that  the 
young  man's  recollection  of  what  he  was  passing  through 
pught  to  serve  him  as  a  sufficient  safeguard  on  that  score 
to  the  end  of  his  life.  "  Unless  he  is,  in  reality,  pos- 
sessed of  a  devil,"  I  said  to  myself,  "  he  will  never  again 
plunge  into  such  horrors." 

On  the  last  day  of  our  trip  Orrin's  physical  restoration 
seemed  to  be  complete.  His  nerves  were  steady  and  his 
appetite  was  good.  But  he  was  very  silent  and  was  evi- 
dently overwhelmed  with  shame.  We  reached  our  hotel 
in  time  for  supper,  and  as  soon  as  this  was  despatched, 
Jorman  proposed  that  we  all  go  to  the  cottage.  Orrin  said  : 

"  I  don't  believe  I  can  go  to-night.  I  must  get  a  little 
stronger  before  I  can  face  them.  Tell  them  I  will  call  in 
the  morning." 

"  Oh,  that  won't  do  at  all,"  said  Jorman  ;  "  their  hearts 


SOJOURNING    IN    FLORIDA.  159 

won't  stop  aching  till  they  have  seen  you  with  their  own 
eyes." 

We  were  received  with  much  gladness.  Mrs.  Erdby 
wrought  an  unusual  cordiality — almost  an  effusiveness — 
into  her  greeting  of  Orrin.  He  was  deeply  affected  and 
stammered  out : 

"  I  should  think  you  would  want  me  never  to  show  my 
face  here  again  after  behaving  so  disgracefully." 

"You  are  not  to  say  one  word  about  it,"  she  replied. 
"  It  is  never  to  be  mentioned.  It  is  covered,  and  will 
never  be  repeated." 

Miss  Kitty  shook  hands  with  us  in  silence.  It  was 
plain  that  her  heart  was  full,  but  difficult  to  discern  the 
precise  nature  of  her  emotions.  After  quite  a  full  ac- 
count of  our  trip,  music  was  proposed.  Mrs.  Erdby 
played  two  or  three  instrumental  pieces  and  then  said 
Kitty  had  a  new  song  which  she  would  sing.  In  reply 
to  inquiries  made  afterwards,  Mrs.  Erdby  merely  told  me 
that  the  auther's  name  was  not  given.  But  she  presented 
me  with  a  manuscript  copy  of  the  song  ;  and  I  will  write 
it  down  here,  with  the  title  prefixed  to  it  by  Mr.  Jorman. 

MISS  LOYALTY'S  HEART. 

I  see  prizes  gleaming  ; 

They  shall  be  my  own  ; 
The  wide  earth  is  teeming 

With  treasures  unknown. 
My  strength  is  unbounded 

To  grasp  and  possess  ; 
Behold  me  surrounded 

With  all  that  can  bless. 

I  feel  my  strength  failing  ; 
I  fall,  oh  !  I  fall ; 


l6o  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

I  hear  naught  but  wailing  ; 

In  vain  do  I  call, 
The  darkness  now  thickens  ; 

I  grope  for  my  way  ; 
My  heart  faints  and  sickens  ; 

I  pray,  oh  !  I  pray. 

A  pale  rift  is  breaking 

The  darkness  above. 
Is  Heaven  yet  making 

A  proffer  of  love  ? 
Is  this  a  true  seeming  ? 

Is  light  still  for  me  ? 
Oh  !    am  I  not  dreaming? 

Do  I  again  see  ? 

My  pathway  is  broken  ; 

I  view  not  the  whole. 
Aloft  gleams  a  token 

Which  guides  to  my  goal. 
With  sweetest  assurance 

My  burden  I  take, 
In  toil  and  endurance, 

The  journey  to  make. 

Perhaps  the  reader  will  find  nothing  impressive  in 
the  words  of  this  song  ;  but  Miss  Kitty's  rendering  of 
them  had  an  indescribable  effect  upon  us.  To  me,  there 
was  a  new  and  startling  revelation  of  possibilities  in  the 
transformation  which  she  underwent  as  the  spirit  of  each 
stanza,  in  its  turn,  assumed  complete  possession  of  her. 
Much,  unquestionably,  was  due  to  the  accompaniment 
executed  by  Mrs.  Erdby.  In  fact,  the  mysterious  power, 
which  transformed  the  singer,  seemed  to  issue  from  the 
instrument.  The  first  interlude  was  quite  prolonged  ; 
and  there  were  many  gradations  between  the  buoyant 
hopefulness  of  its  beginning  and  the  sinking  of  heart 


SOJOURNING    IN    FLORIDA.  l6l 

which  marked  its  close.  The  last  stanza  was  led  up  to 
by  a  strain  instinct  with  sober  confidence,  and  as  the 
song  ended,  I  felt  that  I  saw  the  realities  of  my  future  in 
their  true  light  and  had  gained  a  new  preparation  for  en- 
countering them. 

As  soon  as  the  music  had  ceased  Miss  Kitty  left  the 
room,  without  turning  to  look  at  us  ;  and  Jorman  and  I 
both  knew  that  she  needed  to  have  Mrs.  Erdby's  arm 
around  her.  We  rose,  therefore,  to  take  our  leave,  and 
Orrin,  whose  emotions  made  it  impossible  for  him  to 
speak,  gave  Mrs.  Erdby  his  hand  in  silence. 

"  Come  and  see  us  about  ten  o'clock,"  she  said  to 
him.  "  We  shall  have  our  work  out  of  the  way  and  be 
ready  for  a  good  visit  by  that  time."  Then,  detaining 
me  with  a  slight  motion  of  her  hand  till  Jorman  and 
Orrin  had  passed  from  the  room,  she  asked  :  "  Can  you 
and  your  friend  favor  me  with  a  short  call  immediately 
after  breakfast  to-morrow  morning  ?  "  I  nodded  affirm- 
atively, and  she  continued  :  "  I  feel  that  we  have  only 
made  a  beginning,  and  I  know  that  you  will  continue  to 
help  me.  I  am  not  going  to  try  to  tell  you  how  grateful 
I  am  for  what  you  have  done  already." 

When  I  overtook  my  companions,  Jorman  exclaimed  : 
"  O  my  God  !  What  a  heart  that  little  creature  carries 
around  with  her !  Orrin,  if  ever  you  make  Miss  Loyalty 
suffer  again,  I  think  I  shall  kill  you." 

"  I  ought  to  be  killed  now,"  was  the  answer. 

As  Jorman  separated  himself  from  us  and  began  to 
walk  up  and  down  the  piazza,  Orrin  asked  me  if  I  was 
willing  to  sit  down  and  talk  with  him  a  few  minutes. 
We  seated  ourselves  in  a  secluded  corner  and  he  asked  : 

"  Do  you  think  Kitty  will  ever  forgive  me  ? " 

"  Forgive  you  ?  "  said  I.     "  If  you  should  help  to  save 


162  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

a  man  from  drowning,  would  it  be  very  hard  for  you  to 
forgive  him  for  having  fallen  into  the  water  ?  " 

"  But  she  would  n't  say  a  word  to  me  to-night.  And 
her  hand  was  as  cold  as  ice.  It  used  to  be  so  warm,  and 
to  have  so  much  heart  in  it." 

"  Well,  I  won't  try  to  account  for  the  manner  in  which 
she  received  you  to-night.  I  leave  all  such  explanations 
to  Mr.  Jorman.  But  there  is  one  thing  certain  :  it  is  im- 
possible for  a  human  being  to  desire  any  thing  more 
earnestly  than  she  desires  your  welfare.  If  her  concern 
for  you  had  been  only  of  the  common  order,  I  don't 
know  where  you  would  have  brought  up  by  this  time." 

I  then  gave  him  an  account  of  the  scene  which  had  led 
to  our  determining  on  the  trip  up  the  Ocklawaha. 

"The  precious  girl  !  "  he  said,  between  his  sobs.  "I 
would  lay  down  my  life  for  her.  The  world  would  n't 
be  the  world  if  Kitty  was  n't  in  it.  I  could  n't  live.  Ever 
since  I  used  to  draw  her  around  on  my  little  sled,  and 
carry  her  through  the  snow-drifts,  she  has  been  more 
than  every  thing  else  to  me." 

It  was  after  Orrin  had  retired  that  Jorman  gave  me 
the  title  for  the  song  which  we  had  heard.  "  It  is  very 
likely,"  he  said,  "  that  if  we  had  read  the  song  before 
hearing  Miss  Loyalty  sing  it  we  should  have  called  it 
a  poor  thing,  or  not  have  taken  the  trouble  to  say  any 
thing  about  it.  But,  as  the  matter  now  stands,  the  song 
will  present  to  me  four  distinct  and  wonderful  phases  of 
that  little  girl's  immeasurable  heart-power." 

We  met  only  Mrs.  Erdby  when  we  called  at  the  cot- 
tage, the  next  morning.  She  took  up  no  time  with  pre- 
liminaries, but  said,  as  soon  as  we  had  seated  ourselves  : 

"  I  can't  help  feeling  that  this  is  the  great  crisis  in  Or- 
rin's  life,  and  that  the  great  question  whether  he  is  to  be 


SOJOURNING    IN    FLORIDA.  163 

saved,  or  lost,  will  be  determined  in  a  short  time.  You 
are  aware,  I  presume,  that  this  is  not  his  first  experience 
of  this  kind.  It  is  not  the  first  time  that  he  has  fallen, 
nor  the  first  time  that  he  has  suffered  remorse  from  the 
same  cause.  It  seems  very  plain  that  he  is  in  need  of  a 
new  power  of  some  kind." 

"Is  n't  it  possible,"  Jorman  asked,  "to  inspire  him 
with  some  engrossing  purpose  which  would  be  incompati- 
ble with  this  kind  of  self-indulgence  ?  " 

"  I  should  think,"  said  I,  "  that  his  very  ardent  affec- 
tions ought  to  be  a  sufficient  safe-guard,  when  he  knows, 
and  can't  help  knowing,  how  much  the  happiness  of 
those  who  are  dear  to  him  depends  on  his  conduct." 

"It  would  seem  so,"  Mrs.  Erdby  responded.  "But 
have  your  observations,  Mr.  Jorman,  led  you  to  place 
much  confidence  in  such  safe-guards  ? " 

"  I  confess  they  have  not,"  he  answered-.  "  I  have  seen 
the  total  insufficiency  of  such  restraining  forces  demon- 
strated hundreds  of  times,  and  that,  too,  in  cases  where 
love  was  strong  enough  to  make  a  man  count  his  life  as  the 
merest  bagatelle.  It  seems  impossible  for  men  to  main- 
tain a  clear  and  abiding  apprehension  of  the  extent  to 
which  they  hold  in  their  keeping  the  happiness  of  those 
who  love  them.  I  have  often  thought  of  this  as  one  of 
the  most  difficult  psychological  problems  that  ever  fell 
under  my  notice." 

There  was  a  short  period  of  silence,  and  Mrs.  Erdby 
then  said  :  "  I  have  been  thinking  of  a  sermon  which 
once  interested  me  very  much, — one  on  the  same  line 
with  what  you  suggested  about  an  engrossing  purpose. 
But  I  find  that  our  Jacksonville  pastor  has  n't  it  in  his 
library.  It  is  a  sermon  by  Dr.  Chalmers  on  '  The  Ex- 
pulsive Power  of  a  New  Affection.'  I  have  it  at  home 


164  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

in  a  volume  entitled,  '  Commercial  Discourses.'  I  wish 
our  pastor  could  see  it." 

"  It  must  be  a  very  interesting  discourse,"  Jorman  said. 
"  I  should  like  a  chance  to  read  it  myself  ;  and  I  will  see 
if  some  of  the  other  preachers  have  n't  got  it." 

She  gave  him  a  grateful  smile  and  said,  "  I  am  very 
glad  that  you  are  inclined  to  look  for  it.  If  I  don't  talk 
about  thanks,  it  is  because  I  feel  that  we  are  all  inter- 
ested together  in  this  matter.  I  am  going  to  have  Orrin 
accompany  me  to  the  prayer-meeting  to-night ;  and  I  am 
anxious  about  the  turn  which  will  be  given  to  the  exer- 
cises. If  you  will  attend,  Mr.  Bidrop,  and  say  a  few 
words  at  the  right  time,  it  will  have  an  excellent  effect. 
Your  being  a  young  man  will  give  weight  to  what  you 
may  say." 

Before  noon  Jorman  had  placed  the  volume  of  sermons 
in  Mrs.  Erdby's  hands,  and  she  had  taken  it  to  the 
pastor.  When  the  time  for  the  prayer-meeting  arrived  I 
asked  my  friend  to  accompany  me  ;  but  he  said  :  "  No  ; 
I  am  not  invited.  Besides,  I  can  see  how  my  presence 
might  prove  a  hinderance  to  what  you  have  in  view  ; 
and  I  am  really  anxious  that  you  should  succeed.  As 
Serena  and  the  devil  are  going  to  have  a  regular  stand- 
up  fight  over  the  young  scamp,  I  want  it  distinctly 
understood  that  I  am  on  Serena's  side." 

The  introductory  exercises  were  all  that  could  have 
been  desired  ;  and  it  was  evident  that  the  whole  tone  of 
the  meeting  had  been  determined  by  Dr.  Chalmers'  great 
sermon.  I  took  occasion,  at  what  I  thought  the  proper 
time,  to  give  some  results  of  my  experience  and  observa- 
tion, illustrative  of  the  value  of  religion  to  a  young  man. 
I  have  no  room  for  further  particulars  pertaining  to  this 
subject  ;  but  it  will  be  agreeable  to  the  reader  to  know 


SOJOURNING    IN    FLORIDA.  165 

that  Mrs.  Erdby's  undertaking  seemed  to  be  crowned 
with  complete  success.  Within  three  weeks  Orrin  was 
received  into  the  church,  and  was  displaying  great  zeal 
in  calling  the  attention  of  young  men  to  the  claims  of 
Christianity.  A  few  months  afterwards  I  learned  that  he 
had  entered  on  a  course  of  study  at  a  theological  semi- 
nary. Our  interest  in  his  career,  and  in  its  bearings  on 
Miss  Kitty's  life,  will  be  revived  hereafter. 

Jorman  drew  from  me  an  account  of  the  meeting,  and 
then  relapsed  in^o  a  fidgety  silence.  He  would  start  up 
and  walk  a  few  steps  and  then  sit  down  again  ;  and  it 
seemed  impossible  for  him  to  take  an  attitude  that  suited 
him.  I  finally  asked  him  if  he  had  ever  meditated  much 
on  the  subject  of  quiescence. 

"  No,"  he  answered,  petulantly,  "  I  don't  want  to  know 
any  thing  about  it.  The  fact  of  it  is,  that  there  is  a 
cussed  kind  of  externality  about  my  position  that  I  don't 
like.  This  thing  of  sneaking  around  on  the  outside  of 
the  pen  and  peeking  through  the  fence,  is  getting  tire- 
some. You  religious  people  have  a  kind  of  freemasonry 
among  you,  which  makes  me  mad  every  time  I  think  of 
it.  The  worst  of  it  is  that  you  attract  me  more  than  any 
other  sort  of  people  I  ever  met.  If  you  would  keep  your 
confounded  allurements  away  from  me  I  should  be  much 
obliged  to  you.  I  felt  it  up  at  Westbay.  Old  Delicious 
and  the  Signifer  and  Serena  and  you  would  take  me 
along  with  you  for  a  while,  and  make  me  feel  more  at 
home  than  I  ever  felt  before  in  my  life.  Then,  all  at 
once,  you  would  cut  me  loose  and  float  away  ;  and  I 
would  find  myself  sitting  all  alone  in  a  mud-hole." 

"  Well,  you  will  be  in  complete  fellowship  with  us  one 
of  these  days  ;  and  then  there  won't  be  any  more  of  that 
cutting  loose." 


l66  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

"  What  makes  you  think  so  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  never  try  to  explain  what  makes  me  think  any 
thing  in  connection  with  these  matters.  Somehow  I 
have  come  to  take  it  for  granted  that  you  were  chosen 
before  the  foundation  of  the  world  for  fellowship  with 
Christians." 

"  You  seem  to  be  an  old-fashioned  Calvinist." 

"  I  don't  know  how  that  is  ;  but  I  am  very  sure  that 
I  believe  what  I  used  to  hear  my  father  preach  about 
the  sovereignty  of  God." 

"  Well,  when  I  see  my  way  clear  to  accepting  your 
doctrines  I  '11  let  you  know." 

The  remainder  of  our  time  in  Florida  was  taken  up 
chiefly  with  visiting  the  other  towns  in  the  State.  Be- 
fore our  final  departure  from  Jacksonville,  Mrs.  Erdby 
asked  me  if  I  was  willing  to  undertake  a  confidential 
mission  for  her.  I  professed  my  readiness  to  serve  her 
in  all  possible  ways,  and  she  handed  me  a  letter,  saying  : 
"  It  looks  like  a  very  unreasonable  request  ;  but,  for 
some  cause,  I  can't  keep  myself  from  making  it.  I  wish 
you  to  deliver  this  letter  in  person,  and  to  take  charge 
of  such  papers  as  may  be  handed  to  you,  and  keep  them 
safely,  subject  to  my  order.  I  ask  you  to  keep  the  fact 
of  my  making  this  request  entirely  secret,  and  to  let  no 
one,  except  your  mother  and  sister,  know  any  thing  about 
what  is  in  the  papers.  If  I  should  die  before  calling  for 
them,  you  would  be  at  liberty  to  disclose  their  contents  to 
your  friends  ;  and  it  would  be  comforting  to  me  to  know? 
in  my  last  hours,  that  such  a  disclosure  would  be  made." 

I  found  that  the  letter  was  addressed  to  "  Hon. 
Ephraim  Crasburg,  Parcelton,  Mass." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

MAKING      MONEY. 

T\/T  Y  stay  in  Florida  had  been  prolonged  beyond  the" 
^*-  intended  period  ;  and  it  was  important  that  I 
should  get  to  New  York  as  soon  as  possible.  I  could 
not  well  spare  the  two  days  which  a  visit  to  the  Orling- 
tons  would  have  taken  up.  Moreover,  it  would  have 
been  hard  for  me  to  give  the  family  a  reason  for  such  a 
divergence  from  my  route.  Colonel  Orlington  had 
expressed  to  me  his  unbounded  satisfaction  with  the 
machinery  which  I  had  sold  him,  and  had  given  me  to 
understand  that  he  should  be  prepared  to  pay  the  an- 
nual interest  on  his  note,  with,  at  least,  a  hundred  dol- 
lars of  the  principal.  I  could  not  say  truly  that  I  cared 
to  take  another  look  at  Ellermere  before  my  time  for 
entering  on  possession  of  the  property  should  come. 
But  these  considerations  would  have  been  set  aside,  if 
my  judgment  had  approved  of  my  seeking  an  interview 
with  Miss  Orlington  at  that  time.  I  longed  for  the  sight 
of  her  face  more  than  for  any  thing  else  on  earth.  At  times 
it  seemed  to  me  that  passing  through  South  Carolina, 
without  availing  myself  of  that  privilege,  was  utterly  im- 
possible. I  stated  the  case  fully  to  Jorman  and  asked  him  : 
"  Now  what  can  I  say  to  her  consistently  with  my  pur- 
pose not  to  attempt  the  winning  of  her  affections  until 
Ellermere  is  paid  for,  and  yet  without  raising  an  ob- 
stacle to  my  future  success  ?  " 

167   - 


l68  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

"Well,"  he  said,  "that  is  a  pretty  tough  conundrum 
You  have  got  yourself  into  a  bad  box  by  forming  that 
resolution.  If  I  were  in  your  place  I  would  give  it  up, 
and  just  go  and  turn  my  heart  loose  to  her  as  soon  as 
possible." 

"  That  is  out  of  the  question." 

"  Oh,  I  suppose  so.  Your  old  Calvinistic  mulishness 
has  got  to  have  its  way.  This  being  the  case,  I  am 
afraid  you  would  injure  your  prospects  by  an  interview 
with  the  young  lady.  You  would  be  very  apt  to  des- 
troy the  favorable  impression  you  have  made  heretofore. 
You  would  act  like  a  dunce.  A  fellow  can't  keep 
silence  on  what  his  heart  is  full  of,  and  talk  sensibly  at 
the  same  time  about  any  thing  else.  It  is  like  shutting 
off  the  steam  and  trying  to  run  an  engine  by  hand.  Your 
intellect  is  never  earning  its  salt,  unless  you  are  letting 
your  heart-power  have  free  course.  Besides  appearing 
like  a  simpleton,  you  would  be  very  apt  to  get  yourself 
suspected  of  insincerity.  You  can  conceal  your  real 
sentiments  easily  enough,  but,  in  that  case,  you  can't 
conceal  the  concealment ;  and  if  you  give  the  impression 
that  you  are  trying  to  be  cunning,  it  will  be  all  up  with 
you  at  the  Orlington  mansion.  You  can't  carry  the 
thing  off  now  as  you  could  have  done  a  few  months  ago. 
I  have  discovered  by  a  good  many  signs  that  your  love 
has  been  gaining  such  force  that  it  won't  do  to  fool  with 
it  any  longer.  You  had  better  wait  till  you  can  let  it  rush 
out  in  its  own  way,  before  you  come  face  to  face  with 
its  object  again.  Still  you  will  be  running  a  great  risk  if 
you  make  no  sign  till  you  come  down  here  next  fall.  She 
may  conclude  that  she  was  mistaken  in  thinking  you 
cared  for  her,  and  may  succeed  in  shutting  you  out  from 
her  world.  The  young  lady  has  a  pretty  good  stock  of 
resoluteness." 


MAKING    MONEY.  169 

"  I  shall  have  occasion  to  write  Colonel  Orlington  on 
business  before  I  leave  New  York,  and  I  can  say  something 
about  the  interest  with  which  I  look  forward  to  the  time 
when  I  shall  be  his  neighbor.  I  shall  also  express  some 
hopes  on  behalf  of  my  mother  and  sister." 

"  Well,  that  will  be  driving  down  a  stake  which  will 
help  to  hold  matters  where  they  are." 

If  I  say  nothing  about  this  love  affair  of  my  mine,  in  re- 
lating the  events  of  the  next  few  months,  I  hope  the  reader 
will  not  conclude  that  it  had  no  place  in  my  thoughts. 
It  connected  itself  with  all  my  plans  and  proceedings, 
and  was  ever  present  to  me  as  an  energizing  force.  But 
a  history  of  my  own  interior  life  is  not  within  my  present 
scope. 

It  was  necessary  for  me  to  stop  at  Verdville,  about 
twenty  miles  from  Ellermere,  for  the  purpose  of  adjust- 
ing a  claim  for  rebate.  The  town  is  delightfully  situ- 
ated, and  I  was  favorably  impressed  as  to  its  social 
conditions.  Learning  that  an  excellent  school  for  girls 
was  located  there,  I  made  myself  acquainted  with  the 
principal  and  arranged  with  him  to  act  for  me  in  renting 
a  cottage  for  my  mother  and  sister  if  all  should  go  well 
with  me.  He  said  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  ob- 
taining such  a  place  of  residence  for  them  conveniently 
near  the  school  building.  When  I  reached  home  I  was 
led  to  rejoice  more  than  ever  before  at  the  prospect  of 
my  mother's  escaping  the  severity  of  our  Northern  win- 
ters. I  was  quite  shocked  at  first  by  her  pallor  and 
obvious  loss  in  vitality.  It  was  very  plain  to  me  that  she 
could  not  pass  through  many  such  winters  without  be- 
coming fatally  diseased,  and  I  said  to  her  : 

"  I  believe  that,  in  all  these  things  which  have  been 
causing  me  to  determine  on  making  a  home  at  the  South, 


170  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

Providence  has  had  the  lengthening  out  of  your  life  In 
view." 

"  Perhaps  so,"  she  said.  "  I  sometimes  feel  that  my 
life  is  too  insignificant  a  matter  for  Providence  to  take 
into  account.  But  1  remember  that,  when  I  once  said 
something  of  that  sort  to  your  father,  he  told  me  that  I 
must  not  '  limit  the  Holy  One  of  Israel '  by  such  thoughts. 
He  always  traced  every  thing  that  befel  us  to  a  provi- 
dential design,  and  always  said  it  would  turn  out  for  our 
good  if  we  made  a  proper  use  of  it.  He  was  so  wise  and 
he  felt  so  certain  of  all  this,  that  it  must  be  true." 

"  But  how  do  you  feel,  mother,  about  going  South  to 
live,  and  getting  out  of  the  reach  of  these  terrible  win- 
ters ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  can  hardly  tell.  My  feelings  are  all  the  time 
contradicting  one  another  when  I  get  to  thinking  about 
it.  It  has  seemed  to  me  a  great  many  times  as  if  I  must 
fly  away  at  once  from  the  terrible  weather  we  have  had  ; 
and  my  judgment  tells  me  that,  in  all  probability,  the 
change  will  be  good  for  my  health.  But  you  have  no  idea, 
George,  how  hard  it  is  for  us  women  to  think  of  break- 
ing up  all  our  old  associations  and  going  into  entirely 
new  scenes  among  total  strangers.  You  must  n't  look  so 
serious  over  what  I  say,  dear.  I  am  a  little  weak  and 
babyish  now.  But  you  will  find  me  ready  enough  to  go 
when  the  time  comes,  and,  if  you  succeed  in  what  you 
have  set  your  heart  on,  nothing  can  keep  me  from  being 
happy.  I  would  n't  have  you  fail  for  a  thousand 
worlds." 

Dolly  said:  "  I  expect  to  cry  a  little  when  I  say  good- 
bye to  my  school-mates  and  teachers,  and  I  guess  I  shall 
boo-hoo  right  out  when  we  leave  this  dear  little  old  cot- 
tage for  good.  But  then  I  want  to  take  the  journey,  and 


MAKING    MONEY.  171 

I  want  to  see  the  teachers  and  girls  at  Verdville,  and 
hear  the  darkies  sing.  Oh,  yes  ;  it  will  be  perfectly 
splendid.  And  Oh,  Georgy,  it  seems  to  me  I  can't  wait 
till  next  fall  to  see  my  sister  Martha." 

I  proceeded,  at  the  earliest  opportunity,  to  execute  the 
mission  with  which  Mrs.  Erdby  had  entrusted  me.  Judge 
Crasburg,  to  whom  her  letter  was  addressed,  I  found  to 
be  a  dignified  gentleman  over  seventy  years  of  age,  with 
a  fine  benevolent  countenance. 

"Well,"  he  said,  when  he  had  read  the  letter,  "  I  am 
glad  to  see  Julia  showing  a  disposition  to  enlarge  the 
circle  of  those  who  know  something  about  her  life.  If  I 
could  have  had  my  way,  the  truth  would  have  been  re- 
vealed to  all  her  acquaintances  long  ago.  But  she  has 
been  more  imperious  than  Catharine  of  Russia,  in  en- 
joining silence  on  the  few  of  us  who  were  conversant 
with  the  facts.  I  have  told  her  it  was  wicked  for  such  a 
woman  as  she  is  to  rest  under  a  cloud,  in  order  to  keep 
the  truth  about  a  scamp  from  being  known.  You  met 
her  in  Florida,  I  suppose." 

"Yes,  Sir,"  I  said;  "but  I  first  became  acquainted  with 
her  at  Westbay,  last  summer." 

"  Well,  you  may  accept  this  mark  of  her  confidence  as 
highly  complimentary.  There  has  been  no  danger  of 
her  trusting  men  rashly  of  late  years,  though  when  she 
was  married  she  seemed  to  be  unaware  of  the  existence 
of  such  a  thing  as  falseness." 

Judge  Crasburg  then  related  many  things  connected 
with  Mrs.  Erdby's  life  and  illustrative  of  her  character- 
istics. But  as  a  statement  by  him  of  all  the  essential 
facts  was  included  among  the  papers  committed  to  my 
care,  I  omit  the  remainder  of  our  conversation.  When 
I  got  home  I  put  the  papers  in  a  blue  envelope  and 


172  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

handed  them  to  my  mother  for  safe  keeping,  telling  her 
that  the  collection  of  documents  was  to  go  by  the  name 
of  "The  blue  package."  It  had  occurred  to  me,  fortu- 
nately, that  I  might  have  occasion  to  give  directions 
concerning  it  by  telegraph.  I  told  my  mother,  also,  that 
I  was  authorized  to  let  her  and  Dolly  into  Mrs.  Erdby's 
confidence,  and  that  they  were  at  liberty  to  read  the  pa- 
pers. They  were  not  slow  in  availing  themselves  of  the 
permission.  When  I  returned  from  the  city,  the  next 
evening,  I  found  them  much  excited,  and,  for  several 
days,  Mrs.  Erdby  had  a  large  share  in  their  thoughts. 

"  How  fortunate  you  have  been  in  your  acquaintances, 
George  !  "  my  mother  said.  "  I  am  sure  that  no  one  can 
see  much  of  Mrs.  Erdby  without  being  lifted  up  by  her. 
Oh,  I  am  so  proud  of  her  trusting  you  so  fully." 

"  I  wish  it  was  n't  wicked  to  hate  a  man  when  he  is 
dead,"  said  Dolly. 

I  had  to  work  very  hard  in  order  to  get  my  depart- 
ment of  the  business  of  Millecramp  &  Co.  in  a  conven- 
ient shape  for  my  successor  before  the  time  came  for  me 
to  start  for  Dakota.  Among  other  things  I  made  a  cata- 
logue of  the  customers  I  had  secured,  with  full  annota- 
tions in  connection  with  each  name.  After  the  comple- 
tion of  this  work  I  made  my  head-quarters  at  Jorman's 
room  in  Tenth  Street,  and  busied  myself  with  planning 
my  course  of  action  at  Mackopah.  According  to  the 
latest  reports,  it  was  probable  that  the  ice  would  be  out 
of  the  upper  Missouri  in  a  short  time,  and  I  was  expect- 
ing to  start  in  about  a  week,  when  I  found  the  following 
letter  on  my  desk  at  home  : 

"  MY  DEAR  GEORGE  : — I  am  overwhelmed  with  re- 
morse because,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  I  have  ruined  your 
prospects.  Such  a  numskull  as  I  am  about  money- 


MAKING    MONEY.  173 

making  ought  never  to  have  meddled  with  your  affairs. 
I  can  never  forgive  myself.  It  is  decided  that  the  rail- 
road terminus  shall  be  at  Dilltown  instead  of  Mackopah, 
and  your  land  at  the  latter  place  is  n't  worth  a  quarter  of 
what  it  has  cost  you.  Millerton,  the  vice-president  and 
general  manager  of  the  company,  made  a  winter  journey 
to  Dakota  and  spent  several  weeks  there,  and  when  he  got 
back  here  to  Chicago  he  tried  to  persuade  me  to  make  the 
change  from  Mackopah  to  Dilltown.  I  told  him  I  could 
not  do  so  without  being  false  to  my  employers,  and  I 
know  that  neither  your  interests  nor  my  own  had  any 
thing  to  do  with  the  ground  I  took.  In  fact,  I  was  so 
astounded  at  the  proposed  outrage  on  the  stockholders 
that  your  investment  at  Mackopah  did  n't  come  into  my 
mind.  Millerton  would  n't  listen  to  any  of  my  argu- 
ments, but  said  very  sternly  that  the  terminus  had  got  to 
be  at  Dilltown.  Then,  without  saying  another  word 
I  wrote  out  my  resignation  and  handed  it  to  him. 
That,  I  suppose,  was  just  what  he  was  after.  He  wanted 
a  chief-engineer  who  would  be  entirely  subservient  to 
him,  and  he  has  got  one  now.  I  am  out  of  a  job,  but  I 
don't  care  any  thing  about  that.  I  can  always  get  work 
enough  to  do.  I  am  not  at  all  afraid  that  your  mother 
and  you  will  doubt  that  I  was  trying  to  help  you  all  the 
time.  Bnt  I  don't  see  how  you  can  help  blaming  me  for 
my  stupidity  in  bringing  all  this  evil,  upon  you.  It  is 
certain  that  I  shall  never  cease  to  blame  myself.  There 
ought  to  be  a  law  to  punish  such  dunces  as  I  am  for  giv- 
ing advice  on  business  matters. 

"  Yours  truly, 

"  EDWARD  SEKELL." 

It  was  fortunate  that  I  was  alone  in  the  room  when  I 
read  this  letter,  and  fortunate,  too,  that  I  was  soon  to. 


174  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

meet  my  mother  and  Dolly  at  the  tea-table.  My  first 
definite  thought  was  that  I  must  keep  the  blow  from 
falling  on  the_m  until  I  could  secure  a  little  time  for 
thinking.  Remembering  that  the  resource  recommended 
by  Mr.  Jorman  for  such  an  emergency  was  the  energetic 
direction  of  thought  to  some  subject  apt  to  yield  excite- 
ment, I  used  all  the  force  of  will  of  which  I  was  capable 
in  laying  hold  of  a  calumnious  letter  from  the  South, 
which  had  made  me  very  angry  when  I  had  read  it  in  a 
morning  paper  of  that  date.  I  recalled  the  most  exas- 
perating paragraphs  and  succeeded  to  some  extent  in 
bringing  about  a  renewal  of  my  indignation.  Although 
our  talk  at  the  table  was  out  of  the  usual  line,  it  was 
sufficiently  animated,  and  I  flattered  myself  that  I  had 
concealed  the  crushing  weight  which  was  oppressing  me. 
But  it  was  well  that  I  had  risen  and  turned  to  leave  the 
room,  when  Dolly  said  : 

"  Why,  what  a  Southerner  you  are  getting  to  be.  I  am 
afraid  we  shall  all  be  Ku- Kluxers  after  we  have  lived  in 
South  Carolina  a  little  while." 

"  Lived  in  South  Carolina  !  "  I  said  to  myself.  "  O 
my  God  !  Have  I  got  to  give  up  all  my  hopes  ? "  I 
took  my  hat  and  said  to  my  mother,  without  turning  to 
face  her,  that  I  felt  like  taking  a  long  walk,  and  should 
probably  make  my  cigar  last  a  good  while.  A  record  of 
all  that  passed  through  my  mind  during  that  walk  would 
occupy  many  pages.  But  the  general  course  of  my 
thoughts  may  be  given  as  follows  : 

"  No  ;  it  can't  be  that  I  shall  have  to  give  it  all  up. 
Nothing  so  cruel  as  that  can  be  in  store  for  me.  I  can't 
and  I  won't  give  up  the  hope  of  making  Martha  Orling- 
ton  my  wife.  Nothing  but  a  rejection  from  her  lips,  with 
evidence  that  she  does  not  love  me,  shall  make  me  desist 


MAKING    MONEY.  175 

from  endeavoring  to  bring  about  that  result.  I  can  take 
care  of  her.  I  can  surround  her  with  all  that  is  needful" 
to  the  enjoyment  of  life.  I  am  very  sure  that  I  can  find 
some  one  who  will  take  Ellermere  off  my  hands  and  pay 
me  back  the  $2,500  at  which  I  put  the  cottage  in.  I 
heard  of  a  good  many  investments  in  plantation  property 
last  winter.  Millecramp  &  Co.  will  be  very  glad  to  have 
me  return  to  their  service,  with  the  understanding  that  I 
am  to  spend  eight  months  of  every  year  at  the  South  ; 
and  my  wife  can  board  with  her  parents  as  well  as  any- 
where else  while  I  am  travelling.  But  it  will  be  a  terrible 
thing  for  us  to  be  separated  so  much.  That  don't  come  up 
to  what  I  have  been  calculating  on,  though  of  course  I 
can  fetch  around  to  Where  she  is  pretty  often.  It  won't 
be  like  living  steadily  on  and  being  together  month  after 
month  at  Ellermere.  I  wonder  if  I  have  got  to  cast  all 
that  away  as  a  wild  dream  ?  I  am  ready  to  surrender  one 
point  that  I  thought  I  should  always  stick  to  :  I  don't 
say  now  that  I  must  be  in  possession  of  the  plantation 
before  offering  myself.  Oh,  I  know  it  is  still  in  my  power 
to  become  the  owner  of  Ellermere  and  to  spend  my  life 
there.  Jorman  would  lend  me  the  money  fast  enough, 
and  give  me  a  thousand  years  to  pay  it  in.  But  I  can't 
make  up  my  mind  to-night  to  incur  such  an  obligation. 
If  I  could  see  some  certain  prospect  of  being  able  to  pay 
off  the  debt  in  a  reasonable  time  I  would  borrow  the 
money.  But  it  don't  seem  as  if  there  was  any  certainty 
in  any  prospect.  I  could  n't  see  the  shadow  of  a  doubt 
hanging  around  that  Mackopah  matter  ;  and  now  it  has 
all  gone  to  smash.  How  under  the  sun  could  that  have 
come  about  ?  Sekell  could  n't  have  been  mistaken  about 
the  reasons  for  making  Mackopah  the  terminus  instead 
of  Dilltown.  In  this  letter  he  calls  the  change  an  out- 


176  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

rage  on  the  stockholders.  I  have  heard  a  great  deal 
about  the  plundering  of  corporations  by  inside  rings. 
Hold  on  !  Thunder  and  lightning  !  Millerton  has  se- 
cured all  the  land  about  Dilltown,  and  started  out  to 
make  a  fortune  by  sacrificing  the  interests  of  the  com- 
pany. I  '11  bet  my  life  on  it.  You  think  your  beautiful 
scheme  will  work,  do  you,  Mr.  Millerton  ?  We  '11  see 
about  that.  I  '11  go  to  the  bottom  of  this  affair  if  it  costs 
every  dollar  I  can  raise  in  the  world." 

A  clearly  defined  plan  took  form  in  my  mind  within  a 
few  minutes.  I  returned  to  the  cottage  and  brought 
together  all  the  letters  and  memoranda  in  my  possession, 
bearing  on  the  reasons  for  making  Mackopah  the  ter- 
minus of  the  railroad,  together  with  the  map  which 
Sekell  had  made  for  me  ;  and  the  outlines  of  an  exhaus- 
tive argument  seemed  to  come  to  me  of  themselves.  I 
think  my  faculties  had  never  worked  quite  so  effectively 
before.  I  had  taken  up  my  lamp  and  said  "  Good- 
night, mother,"  when  I  chanced  to  turn  and  discover  the 
signs  of  painful  disappointment  on  her  face.  Putting 
down  my  lamp  and  taking  a  chair,  I  said  : 

"  I  was  going  to  tell  you  all  about  it,  of  course  ;  but  I 
thought  I  would  put  it  off  till  morning.  I  thought  you 
would  sleep  better  if  I  did  n't  give  you  any  thing  new  to 
think  about  to-night." 

"I  should  n't  have  slept  at  all  if  you  had  gone  to  bed 
without  saying  any  thing,"  she  answered.  "  What  would 
have  troubled  me  most  would  have  been  your  not  seem- 
ing to  care  for  my  sympathy.  I  knew  as  soon  as  you 
came  back  from  your  walk  that  you  had  got  rid  of  a 
great  load  ;  but  I  was  sure  that  you  had  come  to  some 
new  determination  that  it  would  take  all  your  strength  to 
carry  out." 


MAKING    MONEY.  177 

I  then  laid  the  whole  matter  before  her  according  to 
the  argumentative  plan  which  had  come  to  me  spon- 
taneously, and  was  glad  to  see  a  sort  of  battle-fire  coming 
into  her  eyes  as  I  proceeded.  I  was  confirmed  in  the 
view  that  I  had  inherited  from  her  the  quality  which 
always  yielded  me  an  energizing  foretaste  of  victory 
when  I  had  a  contest  on  hand.  She  stood  by  my  side, 
with  her  fingers  in  my  hair,  as  I  was  finishing  my  state- 
ment and  giving  vehement  expression  to  my  purpose. 

"  Oh,  what  a  blessing  it  is  to  have  a  son  who  amounts 
to  something,"  she  said.  "  I  know  you  will  succeed.  I 
am  perfectly  confident  of  it.  Edward  Sekell  is  never 
mistaken  in  any  thing  connected  with  his  profession, 
when  he  has  looked  the  ground  all  over.  Poor  fellow  ! 
It  won't  take  you  long  to  turn  his  sorrow  into  joy  ;  and 
he  will  see  what  advantage  it  is  to  be  associated  with  a 
good  fighter.  I  hope  he  will  take  a  lesson  from  you,  and 
see  that  there  is  no  need  of  giving  every  thing  up.  You 
can  show  the  company  that  Millerton  is  trying  to  rob 
them  ;  and  they  won't  stand  it." 

At  nine  o'clock  the  next  morning,  I  was  at  the  room 
in  Tenth  Street.  Jorman  soon  came  in,  and  I  placed 
Sekell's  letter  before  him,  without  a  word.  He  read  it 
through  two  or  three  times,  and  then  began  to  walk  back 
and  forth  on  the  thread-bare  track  in  the  carpet.  At 
length  he  stopped  before  me  with  a  very  stern  expression 
in  his  face. 

"  Now,  Nolly,"  he  said,  "you  have  got  to  give  up  some 
of  your  nonsense.  I  '11  be  cust  if  I  am  going  to  be  bull- 
dozed by  you  forever,  and  not  permitted  to  have  my  way 
in  any  thing.  You  Ve  got  to  let  me  finish  paying  for 
Ellermere,  and  then  you  have  got  to  take  money  enough 
to  start  you  off  in  planting.  It  is  a  pretty  story  if  I  can't 


178  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

be  allowed  to  get  some  satisfaction  out  of  my  money. 
I  'd  rather  be  breaking  stones  on  the  street  than  to  be 
defeated  by  somebody's  damned  squeamishness  every 
time  I  set  my  heart  on  doing  any  thing.  I  '11  tell  you 
just  what  I  am  going  to  do.  I  am  going  down  to  the 
bank,  and  I  am  going  to  bring  ten  thousand  dollars  in 
United  States  bonds  up  here  ;  and,  if  you  won't  take 
them,  I  '11  burn  them  on  the  spot,,  right  before  your 
face." 

I  saw  that  he  was  almost  ready  to  cry,  and  replied,  "  I 
don't  say  that  I  shall  reject  your  generous  offer  if  there 
turns  out  to  be  any  occasion  for  it.  But  do  you  think  I 
am  going  to  give  up  that  Mackopah  enterprise  without  a 
fight  ? " 

"  Why,  what  can  you  do  ?  " 

"  Do  ?  I  am  going  to  lock  horns  with  that  scoundrel, 
Millerton.  Don't  you  see  that  he  is  attempting  to  sacri- 
fice the  interests  of  the -company  for  the  sake  of  making 
a  speculation  of  his  own  at  Dilltown  ?  Is  it  necessary  to 
knock  under  at  once,  as  Sekell  does,  and  let  him  have 
his  way  ?  Are  we  all  going  to  act  like  a  set  of  babies  ? 
Don't  you  suppose  that  such  a  transparent  piece  of  ras- 
cality can  be  defeated  ?  " 

"  Well,  how  do  you  propose  to  proceed  ? " 

"  I  am  going  to  bring  out  the  whole  truth,  every  par- 
ticle of  it.  In  the  first  place,  I  am  going  to  know  all 
about  the  Withlematchie  and  Western  Railroad  Com- 
pany." 

"  Well,  you  have  got  into  your  legitimate  role  as  a 
knowledge-compeller,  and  if  the  devil  stands  in  your 
way,  he  'd  better  look  out  for  himself.  Have  you  the 
names  of  any  of  the  directors  or  other  officers  ?  " 

"  No  ;  but  I  expect  to  have  them  before  night.     I  am 


MAKING   MONEY.  179 

going  to  be  at  a  restaurant  on  Williams  Street  at  a  quar- 
ter past  twelve,  and,  if  Tom  Clonmel  is  in  town,  I  shall 
find  him  there  taking  lunch.  He  is  a  reporter  and 
detective  on  his  own  hook, — sells  his  information  to  one 
paper  or  another  just  as  the  fancy  takes  him  ;  and  he  can 
work  up  such  a  matter  as  this  quicker  than  any  other 
man  in  New  York.  He  was  one  of  my  Brown  University 
cronies.  When  he  was  a  sophomore,  he  paid  most  of 
his  expenses  by  writing  essays  and  orations  for  rich 
juniors  and  seniors." 

"  I  should  like  to  take  him  into  my  collection." 

"You  will  have  a  chance." 

I  was  fortunate  enough  to  see  Tom  enter  the  restau- 
rant soon  after  my  arrival,  and,  while  we  were  lunching, 
I  gave  him  a  succinct  statement  of  the  case  in  hand.  He 
entered  into  the  matter  with  great  eagerness. 

"You  must  get  me  employed  to  ferret  out  all  of  Miller- 
ton's  tricks,"  he  said.  "  It  will  be  an  elegant  job.  I 
can  get  this  information  you  want  now  in  less  than  two 
hours.  I  know  just  where  to  find  out  all  about  Western 
railroads.  Where  shall  I  find  you  between  two  and  three 
o'clock  ?  " 

"  Sha'n't  I  go  with  you  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  No,  no  ;  you  would  spoil  every  thing.  I  can't  have 
any  hanger-on  about  me  when  I  am  hunting  items.  They 
get  scared  if  they  see  two  fellows  after  them  at  once." 

I  told  him  how  to  find  me  at  the  room  in  Tenth 
Street,  and  Jorman  and  I  awaited  his  coming,  with  little 
disposition  to  talk  or  to  do  any  thing  else.  He  came 
about  half  past  two,  swinging  a  paper  over  his  head  in 
triumphant  glee. 

"  Here  you  are,"  he  said,  "  straight  as  a  string."  We 
looked  eagerly  at  the  list  of  names,  and,  in  an  instant, 


l8o  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

Jorman  exclaimed  :  "  Hello  !  we  're  all  right.  Here  is 
Job  Mollison  among  the  directors.  Let  us  go  right 
down  and  catch  him  at  his  office  before  he  gets  away." 

We  proceeded  to  a  building  on  Pine  Street,  and  as- 
cended to  the  third  floor  in  the  elevator.  Jorman  led 
the  way  through  an  outer  office  to  the  presence  of  a 
heavy-set  gentleman,  with  massive  jaws  and  bristling 
iron-gray  hair  and  side-whiskers,  who  seemed  to  be  hard 
at  work  at  his  desk. 

"  Hello,  Job  !  "  said  my  friend. 

"  How  goes  it  Ralph  ?  Wait  a  minute,"  was  the 
response. 

Mr.  Mollison  let  us  stand  two  or  three  minutes,  while 
he  finished  a  computation  in  which  he  was  engaged, 
and  then  turned  to  Jorman  with  the  interrogative, 
"  Well  ?  "  The  latter  introduced  me,  remarking  that  I 
had  something  to  say  which  it  would  be  best  for  him  to 
hear.  I  began  by  saying  that  it  was  my  own  interest 
which  had  led  me  to  seek  the  interview,  but  that  this 
interest  of  mine  was  intimately  connected  with  that  of 
the  Withlematchie  and  Western  Railroad  Company.  I 
then  opened  my  map  and  laid  it  on  the  table,  told  of  the 
purchase  I  had  made,  and  stated  as  briefly  as  possible 
the  reasons  which  had  led  to  the  selection  of  Mackopah 
as  the  eastern  terminus  of  the  road.  I  concluded  by  saying 
that  the  former  chief-engineer  had  resigned  because  he 
had  been  required  to  change  the  terminus  to  Dilltown, 
and  considered  that  such  a  step  would  be  an  outrage  on 
the  stockholders. 

Mollison  cast  an  inquiring  look  into  Jorman's  face,  and, 
receiving  the  answer,  "  Yes,  sir  ;  you  can  take  stock  in 
him,"  he  fell  to  studying  the  map.  At  length  he  asked  : 
"  Who  drew  this  map  ?  " 


MAKING    MONEY.  l8l 

"  Mr.  Sekell,"  I  said,  "  the  former  chief-engineer  that 
I  spoke  of." 

"What  !  "  he  exclaimed,  "  Ed  Sekell  ?  "  As  I  nodded 
affirmatively,  he  went  on,  "  Oh,  the  devil !  Why  did  n't 
you  tell  me  that  before  ?  There  is  something  in  this, 
sure  enough,  if  Ed  has  got  his  back  up  in  that  way.  I 
thought,  perhaps,  it  was  all  fiddlestick." 

I  handed  him  all  the  letters  from  Sekell  which  had  a 
bearing  on  the  subject.  He  glanced  over  them  and  then 
fell  into  meditation.  His  first  words  were  :  "  I  ought  to 
have  known  that  Millerton  was  a  damned  scoundrel." 

After  looking  over  a  memorandum  book,  and  spending 
some  minutes  in  figuring,  he  asked  : 

"  Can  you  carry  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  this  stock 
for  a  while,  Ralph  ?  It  will  take  $50,000  down  and  as 
much  more  in  the  course  of  the  summer." 

"  I  can  do  it  by  selling  some  governments." 

"  Better  hypothecate  your  governments.  They  are 
going  to  advance.  You  have  some  other  stuff  that  you 
ought  to  work  off  pretty  soon — some  that  I  made  a  mis- 
take in  advising  you  to  buy.  I  don't  think  it  will  be 
necessary  for  you  to  take  this  Withlematchie  and  West- 
ern. I  think  we  can  scare  Millerton  into  re-instating 
Sekell  and  then  resigning.  If  we  fail  in  that  we  must 
issue  the  twenty-day  notice  for  a  stockholders'  meeting 
and  have  peremptory  instructions  adopted.  In  that 
case  you  must  be  prepared  to  vote  twenty-five  hundred 
shares." 

"  Very  well,"  said  Jorman. 

Mr.  Mollison  then  struck  a  bell,  sent  a  messenger  for 
Mr.  Grimmage,  and  turned  toward  me  with  the  remark  : 
"  You  have  rendered  the  company  a  great  service.  The 
probabilities  were  all  in  favor  of  Millerton's  succeeding 


1 82  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

in  his  scheme.  We  trust  every  thing  to  the  general 
managers  in  the  West,  and  don't  try  to  keep  track  of 
them.  You  can  start  for  Chicago  to-night,  I  suppose  ?" 

"  I  can  if  necessary,"  I  said,  "  though  I  must  go  to 
Elizabeth  first.  I  should  lose  no  time  if  I  should  wait 
for  to-morrow's  Flyer." 

"  All  right.  Sam,"  he  continued,  as  Mr.  Grimmage  en- 
tered the  room,  "  you  will  start  with  this  gentleman  on 
the  Flyer  in  the  morning  for  Chicago,  and  perhaps  for 
Dakota.  Come  to  my  house  for  instructions  at  nine 
to-night.  Bidrop,  you  will  telegraph  Sekell  to  meet  you 
at  the  Grand  Pacific.  Mr.  Grimmage,  Mr.  Bidrop.  That 
is  all,  I  believe.  Look  in  occasionally,  Ralph.  Good- 
day,  gentlemen." 

"  Don't  you  want  to  send  a  detective  ?  "  Tom  asked. 

"  It  might  be  a  good  thing,"  said  Mollison.  "  What 
is  your  particular  line  ?  " 

"  Rascalities  of  railroaders.  Do  you  remember  the 
exposure  of  Brockmey's  scheme  for  gobbling  the  Lib- 
bensack  ?  " 

"  I  guess  I  do.  It  kept  me  from  fooling  away  fifty 
thousand  dollars." 

"  I  am  the  fellow  who  worked  that  up." 

"  Your  name  is  Tom  Clonmel,  then."  I  have  heard  of 
you  often.  Take  him  along  Sam.  Good-day  again. 
You  have  saved  the  company  a  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars, Bidrop." 

After  we  got  into  the  hall  we  arranged  to  meet  in  the 
office  of  the  Grand  Union  half  an .  hour  before  train 
time,  and  Jorman  volunteered  to  secure  our  sections  in 
the  sleeping-car.  He  walked  to  the  Courtlandt  Street 
ferry  with  me,  and  talked  incessantly. 

"  I  am  glad  this  thing  has  happened,"  he  said.     "  It 


MAKING    MONEY.  183 

has  given  me  a  chance  to  photograph  you  in  a  new  atti- 
tude. It  brings  you  out  splendidly.  I  wonder  what  it  is 
that  Sekell  and  I  lack.  If  you  had  been  constituted  as 
we  are  the  whole  thing  would  have  gone  to  the  devil. 
You  would  have  had  a  humiliating  sense  of  defeat  which 
would  have  gone  far  towards  cowing  you  for  life  ;  Sekell 
would  have  been  confirmed  in  his  self-depreciation  and 
had  a  load  of  remorse  saddled  on  him  permanently  ; 
Millerton  would  have  furnished  a  new  instance  of  trium- 
phant rascality,  and  the  railroad  company  would  have 
suffered  to  the  extent  of  a  hundred  thousand  dollars.  I 
guess  the  fundamental  difficulty  with  Sekell  and  me  is 
the  feebleness  with  which  our  hearts  react  against  paint. 
Our  resentments  are  not  violent  enough  to  throw  us  into 
a  fighting  attitude,  and  so  we  are  too  ready  to  accept 
evils  as  irremediable  and  let  them  settle  down  on  us.  I 
believe  I  can  go  a  little  deeper  still,  and  point  out  our 
defect  a  little  more  definitely.  The  force  of  resentment 
depends  on  the  keenness  of  the  susceptibility  that  is 
touched.  A  fellow  may  be  ready  enough  to  fight  when 
one  susceptibility  is  hit,  and  yet  lie  right  down  under  an 
evil  which  strikes  another  point  in  his  emotional  nature. 
I  guess  the  specific  trouble  with  Sekell  and  me  is  located 
in  the  bluntness  of  our  susceptibility  to  the  conscious- 
ness of  weakness.  We  don't  care  enough  about  power, 
and  so  the  prospect  of  being  beaten  is  n't  offensive 
enough  to  bring  out  our  energies.  Talk  to  Sekell  about 
this,  Nolly,  and  tell  him  I  am  going  to  discipline  myself 
to  looking  the  ground  all  over,  and  not  accepting  defeat 
till  I  am  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  doing  so.  Where 
we  can't  rely  on  our  spontaneous  impulses,  we  must  see 
that  their  work  is  done  by  established  purposes.  It 
won't  take  long  to  sharpen  up  our  susceptibilities  so 


184  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

much  that  our  spontaneous  impulses  will  begin  to  behave 
themselves.  Ain't  Mollison  a  great  old  fellow  ?  I  go 
into  his  office  very  often  just  to  watch  the  operations  of 
his  intellect.  He  and  I  were  boys  together,  though  he  is 
three  or  four  years  older  than  I  am.  He  is  one  of  the 
staunchest  friends  in  the  world,  and  he  hates  meanness 
with  the  devil's  own  vehemence.  How  quickly  he 
formed  that  double-barrelled  plan  for  upsetting  Miller- 
ton's  calculations.  It  was  lucky  that  he  knew  all  about 
Sekell.  You  could  n't  have  brought  him  to  a  decision 
to-day  if  he  had  n't  had  that  knowledge.  At  most  he 
would  only  have  agreed  to  investigate  the  matter.  It 
was  natural  that  he  should  think  you  might  be  mistaken 
as  to  some  of  the  facts  in  the  case,  and  as  long  as  he 
supposed  the  enginneer  to  be  an  unknown  man  his 
action  had  very  little  weight.  But  as  soon  as  you 
brought  Sekell  into  view  the  thing  was  settled.  I  tell 
you,  when  you  can  have  the  known  character  of  a  true 
man  to  pry  with,  your  leverage  is  immense.  This  is 
pretty  sudden  business.  I  don't  see  just  how  I  am  going 
to  adjust  myself  to  having  you  so  far  away.  I  shall  run 
over  to  see  your  mother  and  Dolly  every  few  days.  I  '11 
meet  you  at  the  Grand  Union  and  fix  you  up  in  money 
matters.  I  guess  this  is  the  boat  that  connects  with  your 
train.  By-by." 

"  Why,  I  have  wasted  a  great  deal  of  bravery,"  my 
mother  said,  when  I  had  given  her  the  results  of  my 
day's  work.  "  I  have  been  working  myself  up  to  face  a 
struggle  that  was  going  to  last  all  summer.  You  must 
tell  Mr.  Sekell  that  you  could  n't  have  succeeded  if  Mr. 
Mollison  had  n't  known  what  kind  of  a  man  he  is.  Oh, 
dear  !  Have  you  got  to  go  in  the  morning  and  be  gone 
so  many  months  ? " 


MAKING    MONEY.  185 

When  we  met  at  the  Grand  Union  Jorman  said  to  me  : 
"  It  was  too  late  to  get  into  the  bank  yesterday,  and  it  is 
too  early  this  morning.  But  here  is  a  package  of  ac- 
ceptances that  I  have  put  my  name  on  ;  and  you  can  fill 
in  the  dates  and  amounts,  and  draw  on  me  whenever  you 
choose  and  for  any  amount  you  want.  If  you  think  it 
best  to  buy  more  land,  go  ahead.  I  shall  keep  a  pretty 
big  balance  on  hand,  and  be  ready  for  your  drafts.  I 
understand  that  Serena  has  got  back  to  Boston.  Have 
you  any  idea  what  her  source  of  income  is  ?" 

"  Yes,"  said  I,  "  I  know  all  about  it.  But  I  won't  give 
you  a  word  of  explanation  ;  for  I  am  mad  with  you  for 
having  any  trouble  on  that  score.  You  ought  to  know 
by  this  time  that  all  she  has  is  come  by  honestly." 

I  could  see  that  he  winced  under  the  reproof,  and  yet 
drew  genuine  satisfaction  from  it. 

We  were  soon  on  our  way.  Mr.  Grimmage  was  a 
square-browed  man  about  thirty-five  years  old,  with  a 
plenty  of  "  speculation  "  in  his  dark  eyes,  but  the  reverse 
of  talkative.  He  was  good-natured  enough,  however, 
and  seemed  to  be  highly  entertained  by  Tom's  incessant 
rattling — especially  by  his  accounts  of  numerous  detec- 
tive feats.  I  learned  that  Grimmage  expected  to  find 
Millerton  in  Chicago,  and  was  commissioned  to  "  bull- 
doze him,"  as  he  expressed  it  ;  and  I  had  no  doubt  of 
his  fitness  for  that  work.  Tom  was  a  year  or  two  older 
than  myself,  five  feet  seven  inches  in  height,  and  weigh- 
ing a  hundred  and  forty  pounds.  His  face  had  been 
marked  by  small-pox.  He  was  of  Irish  parentage,  and 
could  assume  the  brogue  or  lay  it  aside,  as  he  pleased. 
Which  of  the  two  nationalities  and  what  grade  of  culture 
he  should  represent  was  always  at  his  own  option.  I 
never  knew  his  spirits  to  flag.  We  came  to  the  under- 


1 86  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

standing  that  Grimmage  and  I  should  keep  ourselves 
quiet  at  the  Grand  Pacific,  and  let  Tom  locate  Millertoii 
and  see  how  much  of  a  case  he  could  make  out  against 
him  without  leaving  the  city. 

"  I  don't  want  to  meet  the  scamp,"  Grimmage  said, 
"  until  I  am  prepared  to  show  that  I  can  crush  him." 

As  I  finished  registering  at  the  hotel,  Sekell  touched 
my  arm,  and  we  stepped  aside. 

"  Have  you  come  out  here  to  flog  me?"  he  asked. 

"  Yes,"  I  replied  ;  "  that  is  my  principal  business. 
But  there  are  a  few  little  incidentals  that  I  must  attend 
to  first.  I  am  commissioned  by  a  very  high  authority  to 
instruct  you  to  enter  on  a  course  of  self-discipline,  with 
a  view  to  developing  a  love  of  power  and  a  disposition 
to  fight.  I  can't  say  any  thing  more  till  I  have  washed 
my  face  and  gotten  a  little  breakfast,  except  that  you  will 
probably  have  to  go  back  and  finish  that  job  you  ran 
away  from, — the  building  of  the  Withlematchie  and 
Western." 

He  had  not  a  word  to  say  ;  but  his  deep  eyes  were 
fastened  on  me  till  I  left  the  room.  When  I  had  come 
out  from  breakfast  and  given  Mr.  Sekell  an  account  of 
what  had  taken  place,  he  looked  at  me  in  astonishment. 

"  You  are  a  wonderful  boy,  George,"  he  said.  "  The 
idea  of  going  behind  Millerton  and  getting  his  decision 
reversed  never  entered  my  mind.  We  look  on  a  General 
Manager  as  an  autocrat  whose  word  is  law,  and  who  is 
under  no  obligation  to  give  a  reason  for  his  actions.  I 
suppose  we  railroaders  are  as  much  accustomed  to  sub- 
ordination as  soldiers  are.  I  know  I  should  be  very 
much  surprised  if  one  of  my  subordinates  should  ques- 
tion the  propriety  of  my  orders." 

"  That,"  I  said,  "  explains  the  difference  in  our  ways 


MAKING    MONEY.  187 

of  taking  this  thing.  Very  likely,  if  you  had  been  in  my 
position,  you  would  have  acted  just  as  I  did." 

"  No  ;  I  guess  not.  I  can't  imagine  myself  blazing  up 
and  resolving  on  such  a  contest.  And  I  am  afraid, 
George,  that  you  will  find  yourself  beaten  after  all. 
Millerton  is  a  hard  man  to  fight,  and  he  told  me  that  a 
man  who  would  act  on  his  advice  held  proxies  enough  to 
control  the  board  of  directors." 

"That  must  have  been  what  Mr.  Mollison  had  in  mind 
when  he  arranged  with  Jorman  to  carry  a  quarter  of 
million  of  the  stock.  Millerton  will  find  that  he  is 
headed  off  there." 

"  Is  Job  Mollison  on  your  side  ?  " 

"  With  all  his  heart.  And  it  was  your  name  that  fixed 
him.  He  did  n't  seem  to  take  what  I  said  into  very 
serious  consideration  till  he  found  that  the  engineer  who 
had  resigned  was  Ed  Sekell.  Then  he  decided  at  once. 
And,  by  the  way,  mother  impressed  on  me  that  I  must 
tell  you  of  that  fact,  and  let  you  know  that  my  success 
was  due  to  your  high  character." 

"  If  your  mother  has  that  feeling,"  said  Sekell,  in  a 
broken  voice,  and  with  visible  moisture  in  his  eyes,  "  it 
is  worth  more  than  all  the  rest  to  me." 

Beyond  the  fact  that  Tom  had  located  Millerton  at 
the  Palmer  House,  we  received  nothing  material  from 
him  for  two  days.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  third  day» 
however,  he  came  to  Grimmage's  room  and  laid  before 
us  the  case  which  he  had  worked  up.  If  I  could  afford 
the  requisite  space  I  should  like  to  give  Tom's  report  in 
full,  and,  as  nearly  as  possible,  in  his  own  words.  But  I 
must  content  myself  with  a  condensed  statement. 

He  had  found  that  interviews  with  Millerton  were 
frequently  sought  by  a  black-haired  man  with  the  mark 


1 88  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

of  a  burn  on  his  right  cheek,  and  that  Millerton  avoided 
the  appearance  of  intimacy  with  the  man.  Sekell  recog- 
nized the  description  as  that  of  a  wandering  and  charac- 
terless speculator  by  the  name  of  Chinett,  who  had  spent 
most  of  the  previous  summer  in  Dakota.  Tom  watched 
for  an  opportunity  to  catch  a  few  words  of  conversation 
between  the  two  men.  Seeing  them  seated  under  the 
stairway  leading  from  the  office  to  the  entre-sol  in  the 
Palmer  House,  he  hired  a  porter  to  come  and  tell  him, 
"  The  gentleman  says  he  will  be  at  No.  34  at  eleven 
o'clock,"  and  to  be  prepared  to  find  him  very  hard  of 
hearing.  Then  he  got  a  morning  paper  and  a  cigar  and 
seated  himself  at  a  little  distance  from  Millerton  and 
Chinett.  When  the  porter  came  Tom  put  his  hand  to 
his  ear,  and  the  communication  had  to  be  fairly  screamed 
out  before  he  seemed  to  understand  it.  The  conversa- 
tion was  carried  on  in  so  low  a  tone,  however,  that  noth- 
ing serviceable  could  be  caught,  except  two  remarks  by 
Chinett,  which  were  made  distinct  by  his  earnestness. 
He  said  :  "  You  ought  to  let  me  in  for  a  hundred  shares 
more  in  the  Withlematchie  Development."  The  other 
remark  was  :  "  Cropperton  swears  that  he  won't  give  me 
but  thirty  thousand  for  getting  him  the  contract  at  those 
figures  ;  and  you  must  be  content  with  fifteen,  or  raise 
the  figures."  Having  obtained  these  clues  Tom  avoided 
being  seen  by  the  conspirators.  After  visiting  half  the 
law  libraries  in  the  city  he  found  a  copy  of  the  acts 
passed  the  preceding  winter  by  the  Dakota  Legislature, 
and  read  the  charter  of  the  Withlematchie  Development 
Company.  The  capital  stock  was  $200,000,  divided  into 
two  thousand  shares.  The  books  were  to  be  opened  at 
Dekkerville.  He  ascertained  from  the  same  pamphlet 
that  the  county  in  which  Dekkerville  was  located  had 


MAKING    MONEY.  189 

been  divided,  and  that  the  new  county-seat  was  Dilltown. 
By  telegraphic  communication  with  the  Register  of 
Deeds  at  Dekkerville  Tom  learned  that  the  records  had 
not  been  removed,  and  that  many  tracts  of  land  at  Dill- 
town  and  in  its  immediate  vicinity  had  been  conveyed 
to  the  Withlematchie  Development  Company.  His  next 
despatch  to  the  Register  was  as  follows  : 

"  Give  me  the  number  of  shares  of  Withlematchie 
Development  held  by  J.  C.  Millerton,  and  draw  against 
your  answer  for  one  hundred  dollars." 

"  It  can  be  worked,"  the  Chicago  operator  said,  "but 
Jack  and  I  will  bleed  him  for  all  he  '11  stand." 

The  answer  came  in  a  few  hours  :  "  J.  C.  Millerton's 
original  subscription  to  stock  of  Withlematchie  Develop- 
ment Company,  fifteen  hundred  shares.  Thomas  Chinett, 
three  hundred  shares."  Tom  said  that  neither  of  those 
men  was  named  among  the  incorporators  in  the  charter. 

The  next  measure  was  to  get  on  the  track  of  the  man 
whom  Chinett  had  called  "  Cropperton."  The  name 
was  found  at  length  on  the  register  of  the  Tremont. 
Tom  succeeded  in  identifying  the  man  as  a  contractor 
on  a  large  scale,  and  managed  to  get  into  conversation 
with  him.  He  proved  to  be  well  constituted  for  the 
enjoyment  of  anecdotes,  and  the  two  separated  only  at 
late  bed-time,  after  taking  several  "  night-caps  "  together 
and  agreeing  to  breakfast  together  the  next  morning.  A 
little  before  ten  o'clock  the  next  forenoon  Cropperton 
said  he  had  a  very  important  engagement. 

"  I  am  afraid,"  said  Tom,  very  seriously,  "  that  you 
are  going  to  fool  away  thirty  thousand  dollars." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  "  Cropperton  shouted,  in  evi- 
dent amazement. 

''Well,"  was  the  reply,  "  if  you  will  agree  to  be  candid 


190  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

with  me  I  will  be  candid  with  you.  I  am  sure  it  is  more 
to  your  interest  than  it  is  to  mine  that  we  should  ex- 
change confidences." 

"  Come  up  to  my  room,"  said  Cropperton.  "  There  is 
no  risk  in  letting  the  damned  rascals  wait,  any  way." 

Tom  made  a  full  statement  of  the  case,  and  convinced 
Cropperton  that  Millerton  would  be  removed  from  his 
position  very  soon,  and  that  any  contract  entered  into 
by  him  was  sure  to  be  annulled  by  the  directors.  Then 
all  was  plain  sailing. 

"  You  've  saved  me  a  good  many  thousand  dollars," 
said  Cropperton,  and  I  will  help  you  all  I  can.  They 

expected  to  get  a  big  hawl  out  of  me  to-day, 'em 

They  would  n't  wait,  in  the  usual  way,  for  the  money  to 
become  due  me,  but  demanded  twenty  thousand  down 
on  the  signing  of  the  contract ;  the  damned  skeezuckses." 

In  relating  what  had  taken  place  between  himself  and 
the  two  villains,  Cropperton  used  a  great  many  exple- 
tives which  it  is  unnecessary  to  record,  and  paid  no  at- 
tention to  the  new  version  in  naming  the  place  of  resi- 
dence which  he  selected  for  Millerton  and  Chinett. 
Tom  drew  up  a  statement  to  the  effect,  that  Chinett  had 
agreed  in  the  first  instance,  for  the  consideration  of 
$30,000,  to  procure  Cropperton  a  contract  for  grading 
the  track  from  Dilltown  to  the  Gap,  about  seventeen 
miles,  at  $15,000  per  mile,  and  that  this  arrangement 
was  so  modified  that  Cropperton  was  to  pay  $40,000  and 
receive  $15,600  per  mile  for  the  grading.  It  was  further 
stated  that  this  modification  of  the  agreement  had  been 
made  in  the  presence  of  Millerton  and  that  the  forenoon 
of  that  day  had  been  appointed  for  the  execution  of  the 
contract  and  the  paying  over  of  $20,000  ;  Cropperton 
affixed  his  signature  to  this  statement  and  went  before  a 
notarv  and  made  oath  to  it. 


MAKING    MONEY.  191 

Incidently,  Tom  had  fallen  in  with  two  steamboat 
captains,  well  acquainted  with  the  upper  Missouri  and 
all  its  tributaries,  and  had  procured  from  them  affidavits 
confirmatory  of  Sekell's  declaration  in  regard  to  the 
shoals  in  the  Withlematchie,  between  Mackopah  and 
Dilltown. 

After  the  report  was  concluded,  Grimmage  sat  in  a 
"brown  study  "  for  ten  minutes,  and  then  said  to  Tom  : 
"  Write  all  that  out  in  the  form  of  a  letter  to  the  Chicago 
Times.  Head  your  letter  '  A  Thrifty  Manager,'  and 
hand  it  to  me  before  breakfast." 

"  You  don't  mean  to  have  it  published  ?  "  said  Sekell. 

"  Not  unless  Millerton  is  a  bigger  fool  than  I  take  him 
to  be,"  was  the  answer.  "  Keep  in  mind  what  I  want 
the  document  for,  Clonmel.  Copy  the  affidavits  into 
your  letter  and  then  hand  them  back  to  me  separately. 
Mollison  will  want  to  put  them  in  his  ammunition-chest. 
He  '11  have  a  regiment  of  rascals  at  his  mercy  pretty 
soon." 

"  Dis  nigger  doan  sleep  none  to-night,"  said  Tom,  as 
he  gathered  up  his  papers  and  left  the  room. 

"  I  am  afraid  this  is  rather  a  bad  world,"  said  Sekell. 
"  I  believe  I  don't  want  to  get  behind  the  curtains  any 
more.  I  have  known  Cropperton  a  long  time.  He  is 
the  smartest  contractor  for  getting  work  done  I  ever  saw. 
If  I  had  the  job  of  building  the  Withlematchie  and 
Western,  I  should  be  willing  to  pay  him  five  hundred 
dollars  a  month  as  master  of  construction." 

"  You  had  better  see  him  then  ;  for,  in  all  probability, 
you  will  have  the  job,  and  it  will  be  at  your  own  option 
whether  you  supervise  the  whole  work,  or  let  contracts. 
I  know  that  is  Mollison's  view  ;  and  he  won't  meet  with 
much  opposition  in  the  Board  after  this." 


192  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

"  But  I  don't  like  Cropperton's  being  willing  to  let 
those  men  take  advantage  of  the  stockholders." 

"  Oh,  that  has  nothing  to  do  with  his  efficiency  as 
master  of  construction.  All  you  have  to  do,  is  to  look 
after  the  interest  of  your  company.  He  '11  settle  for  the 
other  matter  elsewhere." 

Tom's  letter  would  have  filled  four  columns  of  the 
Times,  and  he  offered  to  bet  that  he  could  sell  it  to  that 
journal  for  three  hundred  dollars.  "  O  day  of  sadness  !  " 
he  said,  "Am  I  never  to  behold  this  potent  production 
typographically  glorified  ?  Mr.  Grimmage,  in  handing 
you  this  document  and  consenting  to  its  suppression,  I 
knock  sixteen  rungs  out  of  the  ladder  by  which  I  ex- 
pected to  climb  to  immortality." 

Grimmage  found  it  necessary  to  occupy  but  very  little 
time  in  his  interview  with  Millerton.  He  exhibited 
Tom's  report  and  gave  a  rapid  sketch  of  its  contents, 
and  presented  the  alternative  of  an  unconditional  sur- 
render, or  the  publication  of  the  document  in  the  Times 
the  next  morning.  Millerton  chose,  of  course,  to  sur- 
render ;  and  Grimmage  brought  back  and  delivered  to 
Sekell  a  document  which  read  as  follows  : 

"To  MR.  EDWARD  SEKELL. — Sir  :  You  are  hereby  re- 
instated as  Chief-Engineer  of  the  Withlematchie  and 
Western  Railroad  Company.  Subject  to  the  approval  of 
the  Board  of  Directors,  you  are  charged  with  the  duty  of 
locating  termini  and  stations,  and  will  exercise  exclusive 
supervision  of  construction.  J.  C.  MILLERTON, 

"  General  Manager." 

Another  paper,  dated  a  day  later,  contained  Millerton's 
resignation. 

"This  is  a  great  responsibility,"  said  Sekell,  "but  I 
will  do  my  best.  It  seems  rather  hard,  though,  to  have 


MAKING    MONEY.  193 

my  good-fortune  so  connected  with  the  ruin  of  Mil- 
lerton." 

"Oh,"  said  Grimmage,  "  I  don't  see  how  a  man  who  be- 
lieves, like  you,  in  the  old-fashioned  doctrine  of  having 
sinners  go  to  hell,  should  feel  so  very  tender  toward  a 
defeated  scoundrel.  Millerton's  downfall  don't  trouble 
me  a  particle.  I  am  perfectly  willing  that  he  shall  lie 
down  in  the  bed  he  has  made  for  himself.  I  like  to  see 
men  get  their  deserts." 

"  Perhaps,"  said  Tom,  "if  he  has  a  pretty  rough  time 
of  it  now,  they  '11  let  up  on  him  a  little  when  he  plays  his 
next  engagement." 

"  That,"  said  Sekell,  "  will  depend  on  the  use  he  makes 
of  this  experience.  The  danger  is  that  it  will  harden 
him  and  make  him  worse  than  ever." 

Grimmage  telegraphed  the  result  to  Mollison,  and  re- 
ceived the  answer  :  "All  right.  Bring  Sekell  here." 

It  was  decided  at  once  that  my  three  friends  should 
start  for  New  York  by  the  night  express.  After  a  period 
of  meditation,  Sekell  said  to  Grimmage  :  "There  ought 
to  be  no  time  lost  in  organizing  the  force  of  laborers. 
We  ought  to  be  on  our  way  to  Mackopah  in  two  weeks 
at  the  latest.  The  frost  will  be  all  out  of  the  ground  by 
that  time.  I  think  I  had  better  find  Cropperton  and  see 
if  he  will  take  the  matter  in  charge.  As  he  has  been 
expecting  a  contract,  he  knows  where  he  can  lay  his  hand 
on  a  great  many  men.  I  can  order  the  equipment  from 
New  York.  I  shall  not  let  any  contracts  unless  the 
Board  over-rule  me.  I  know  I  can  grade  the  track  from 
Mackopah  to  the  Gap  for  $9,000  a  mile.  I  am  going  to 
ask  the  Board  to  make  you  the  paymaster,  Grimmage,  if 
Mollison  can  spare  you.  Handling  money  is  out  of  my 
line.  Let  me  see  you  a  minute,  George." 


194  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

We  stepped  into  the  hall,  and  he  threw  his  arm  around 
my  neck.  "The  Lord  has  been  very  good  to  us,"  he 
said,  "  and  we  must  give  ourselves  to  Him  fully.  You 
have  no  idea  how  distressed  my  wife  and  I  were  when 
we  thought  I  had  ruined  you.  But  you  ought  to  have 
seen  what  a  time  we  had  when  I  told  her  what  your 
mother  wanted  you  to  say  to  me.  You  know  Celia  be- 
longed  to  your  mother's  bible-class  when  she  was  a  young 
girl ;  and  she  would  rather  have  a  compliment  from  her 
than  to  be  decorated  by  all  the  queens  and  empresses 
in  the  world.  You  must  go  and  see  the  poor  girl  when 
I  am  gone,  George." 

Tom  volunteered  to  go  with  Sekell  and  find  Cropper- 
ton,  which  he  said  he  could  do  in  "short  order."  A 
provisional  arrangement  was  effected  without  difficulty. 
Cropperton  said  he  had  a  good  chance  to  put  out  his 
money  for  a  year  at  a  high  rate,  and  chose  to  work  on  a 
salary,  instead  of  looking  for  a  contract.  Just  at  that 
time,  the  idea  of  a  contract  excited  some  disgust  in 
him. 

The  next  morning  I  felt  that  I  was  all  alone  in  a 
strange  world.  I  had  acquaintances  enough  in  Chicago, 
but  none  whom  I  cared  to  see,  except  Mrs.  Sekell.  It 
seemed  to  me  that,  in  giving  up  my  position  with  Mille- 
cramp  &  Co.,  I  had  become  an  exile  from  the  world  in 
which  I  had  previously  moved.  There  was  a  great 
change  in  my  frame  of  mind.  I  had  been  unduly  elated 
over  the  swift  success  of  the  movement  which  I  had 
initiated,  and  I  had  taken  to  myself  an  exaggerated 
measure  of  credit  for  it.  I  had  begun  to  think  of  my- 
self as  a  very  able  young  man.  But,  in  looking  forward 
to  my  work  at  Mackopah,  I  was  oppressed  by  a  feeling 
of  helplessness.  It  was  so  different  from  any  thing  I  had 


MAKING    MONEY.  195 

ever  had  connection  with,  that  I  was  at  a  loss  for  a  way 
to  begin,  and  found  it  wholly  impossible  to  plan  a  course 
of  action.  I  had  expected  to  take  counsel  with  Sekell, 
and  get  minute  directions  from  him  as  to  the  grading  to 
be  done  on  the  land  purchased  from  the  Frenchman. 
But  there  had  ^een  no  opportunity  for  that,  and  I  was 
too  impatient  to  await  his  return  from  New  York.  "  Oh, 
pshaw  !  "  I  said  to  myself,  "  I  am  not  fit  to  be  any  thing; 
but  a  drummer.  I  thought  I  showed  myself  wonderfully 
smart  in  bringing  about  the  defeat  of  Millerton.  But  I 
only  happened  to  be  in  a  position  to  set  the  ball  in 
motion,  just  as  any  body  else  could  have  done.  All  the 
planning  and  executing  has  been  accomplished  by  others. 
I  could  n't  have  done  a  thing  without  Tom  Clonmel's 
help." 

That  self-distrust  was  a  new  thing  in  my  experience  ; 
but  it  lasted  a  long  time  and  must  have  impaired  my 
judgment  for  a  season.  I  knew  enough  to  buy  some 
wheelbarrows,  picks,  and  shovels,  and  ship  them  to 
Mackopah,  but  I  made  several  blunders  which  I  after- 
wards looked  back  upon  with  astonishment.  I  ought  to 
have  filled  out  and  negotiated  one  of  the  drafts  which 
Jorman  had  accepted,  and  to  have  procured,  in  exchange, 
drafts  on  New  York,  which  would  have  been  preferred  in 
Dakota  to  bank-notes.  I  could  have  done  that  readily 
in  Chicago,  where  there  were  several  prominent  mer- 
chants who  would  have  vouched  for  me.  But  the  im- 
portance of  such  prudential  action  did  not  happen  to 
occur  to  me.  As  a  consequence,  I  found  myself  greatly 
embarrassed  when  I  got  to  Mackopah.  My  stock  of 
currency  was  nearly  exhausted,  and  I  saw  the  necessity 
of  replenishing  it  before  employing  laborers.  At  length 
I  arranged  with  a  merchant,  who  had  just  arrived  with  a 


196  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

large  stock  of  goods,  to  take  my  draft  on  Jorman  for 
$1,000,  send  it  forward  for  collection  and  obtain  notice 
of  its  being  honored  by  a  telegram  to  be  mailed  at 
Dekkerville.  It  would  have  been  much  better  if  I  had 
contented  myself  to  remain  idle  until  I  could  have  pro- 
cured certified  checks  from  New  York.  But  I  was  be- 
coming anxious  to  be  at  work,  and  I  thought  the  saving 
of  three  or  four  days  an  important  matter  ;  and,  strangely 
enough,  it  did  not  occur  to  me  that  I  could  save  the  time 
by  going  to  Dekkerville  and  telegraphing  for  the  checks. 
When  the  telegram  came  I  drew  my  currency,  employed 
a  few  men  and  set  about  my  work  in  a  feeble,  blunder- 
ing way.  A  few  days  afterwards  I  saw  an  opportunity 
to  buy  a  twenty-acre  tract  which  connected  my  quarter 
section  with  the  plateau  on  which  Gabineau  had  laid  out 
streets.  I  saw  that  by  owning  that  tract  I  should  be  in  a 
position  to  make  a  road  by  which  all  our  land  would  be 
easily  accessible  from  the  business  part  of  the  embryo 
town.  But  the  owner  said  he  was  in  a  hurry  to  go  East, 
and,  if  I  wanted  the  land,  I  must  "  plank  down  the 
money  "  at  once.  The  price  was  $3,000.  It  happened 
that  I  had  became  quite  intimate  with  Mr.  Ipperson,  the 
merchant  of  whom  I  have  spoken,  and  had  been  the 
bearer  of  good  news  to  him  by  being  the  first  person  to 
convince  him  that  Mackopah  was  sure  to  be  the  terminus 
of  the  railroad.  He  had  come  to  have  entire  confidence 
in  my  paper,  and  wanted  as  large  a  draft  as  I  was  willing 
to  give  him,  since  my  assurance  as  to  the  railroad  had 
led  him  to  determine  on  greatly  increasing  his  stock  of 
merchandise.  The  result  was  that  I  drew  $4,000.  I 
had  gotten  my  work  a  little  better  in  hand,  and  was  be- 
ginning to  form  some  new  plans  in  regard  to  it,  when 
Ipperson  told  me  that  my  draft  was  protested. 


MAKING    MONEY.  197 

It  was  just  at  night  when  this  information  came  to  me, 
and  it  filled  me  with  consternation.  I  told  Ipperson  all 
about  Jorman  and  my  relations  to  him  ;  and  he  had  not 
much  doubt  that  the  protest  had  resulted  from  a  failure 
to  find  the  drawee.  I  said  that  I  would  go  immediately 
to  Dekkerville  and  telegraph  Jorman,  so  that  the  matter 
might  be  rectified  as  soon  as  possible.  Then  I  settled 
with  my  men,  ordered  them  to  suspend  work  until  my 
return,  mounted  a  horse  which  I  had  bought  and  started 
for  Dekkerville  a  little  before  midnight.  When  I  had 
nearly  reached  that  place  I  saw  that  I  had  committed 
another  egregious  blunder.  I  had  failed  to  get  from 
Ipperson  the  address  of  the  person  to  whom  he  had  sent 
the  draft,  and,  consequently,  could  not  order  the  money 
paid  over  to  him.  I  could  only  inform  Jorman  that  the 
draft  was  protested.  After  waiting  nearly  twenty-four 
hours,  I  received  the  despatch  :  "  Protest  by  rascally 
notary  for  sake  of  fee.,  Have  mailed  certified  check." 
I  started  immediately  on  my  return  to  Mackopah,  and 
had  ridden  about  ten  miles  when  the  question  occurred 
to  me  :  "  What  if  he  has  mailed  the  check  to  Dekker- 
ville ?  "  Then  I  had  a  vision  of  myself  going  in  vain, 
day  after  day,  to  the  Mackopah  post-office.  "  If  Jorman 
were  accustomed  to  business,"  I  thought,  "  it  would  be 
different.  But  it  seems  to  me  I  can  see  him  looking  at 
the  name  of  the  place  from  which  my  telegram  was  sent, 
and  copying  it  in  the  superscription  of  his  letter."  I 
turned  my  horse's  head  and  put  him  into  a  furious  gallop 
for  Dekkerville.  To  my  question,  "  To  which  place  is 
the  check  mailed  ?  "  Jorman  answered,  "  To  Dekker- 
ville." I  had  no  other  course  than  to  wait  four  or  five 
days  where  I  was.  I  wrote  to  Ipperson,  but  my  letter, 
as  it  afterwards  appeared,  was  put  on  a  steamer  bound 


198  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

for  the  head-waters  of  the  Missouri,  instead  of  being  sent 
by  the  Star  Route  on  which  service  had  just  been 
"expedited." 

That  period  of  waiting  turned  out  to  be  very  fruitful 
for  me.  My  whole  series  of  blunders  presented  them- 
selves to  my  intelligence  in  a  body  ;  and  I  got  so  angry 
with  myself  that  my  faculties  were  thoroughly  aroused. 
I  felt  that  the  question,  whether  I  was  to  go  through  life 
as  an  inefficient  ninny  or  not,  must  be  settled  then  and 
there.  It  will  be  taken  for  granted  that  such  a  prospect 
threw  my  spirit  into  a  fighting  attitude.  Somehow  my 
old  self-confidence  came  back  to  me  in  full  force.  "  Fid- 
dlestick ! "  I  said.  "  It  is  only  necessary  for  me  to 
keep  myself  awake  and  understand  what  I  am  about. 
I  have  got  to  look  over  the  whole  ground,  when  I  have 
any  thing  to  do  and  hunt  out  all  the  chances  for  acci- 
dents, and  keep  every  point  guarded  against  them." 
That  lesson  has  been  of  so  much  use  to  me  since  that  the 
embarrassments  incurred  by  my  blunders  have  been 
compensated  for  many  times  over. 

With  my  recovered  energy  I  began  to  think  about  my 
work  at  Mackopah.  I  saw  that,  in  filling  out  the  low 
ground  on  my  water-front,  I  should  have  to  remove  a 
large  body  of  earth  so  far  that  I  should  need  vehicles 
larger  than  wheelbarrows.  I  was  on  the  point  of  de- 
termining to  buy  some  horses  and  carts,  when  I  hap- 
pened to  remember  what  I  had  seen  in  the  lumber-yard 
of  a  car  factory  in  Dayton.  The  lumber  and  other 
materials  there  were  all  moved  on  narrow-gauge  tramways, 
made  by  levelling  the  ground  and  laying  down  "  two  by 
three's  "  fastened  together  in  sections  about  twenty  feet 
long.  The  track  could  be  shifted  from  one  place  to 
another  with  little  labor,  and  I  was  able  to  recall  the 


MAKING    MONEY.  199 

construction  of  the  switches  and  wooden  "  frogs."  The 
car  wheels  were  a  foot  in  diameter,  and  supported  a 
platform  eight  feet  long.  I  had  no  difficulty  in  imagin- 
ing an  earth-container  convenient  for  dumping  its  load. 
Having  formed  in  my  mind  a  complete  picture  of  the 
entire  equipment,  I  telegraphed  to  a  house  in  Chicago  to 
have  the  irons  for  six  of  the  cars  shipped  to  me  at 
Mackopah,  and  received  the  answer  :  "  Your  order  will 
be  filled."  Then  I  considered  the  possibility  of  securing 
a  foreman  who  understood  grading  and  the  management 
of  laborers  better  than  I  did,  and  of  employing  myself 
at  something  for  which  I  was  better  fitted.  By  talking 
with  every  one  I  met,  I  found  a  man  who  had  consid- 
erable experience  as  a  foreman  of  railroad  contractors, 
and  engaged  his  services  at  five  dollars  a  day.  Then  I 
learned  at  the  Land-Office  that  a  large  area  in  the  vicinity 
of  Mackopah  and  along  the  line  of  the  railroad  was 
about  to  be  offered  at  public  sale  and  thrown  open  to 
private  entry,  and  I  immediately  resolved  on  opening  a 
land-agency.  I  arranged  with  the  Receiver  to  furnish 
me  maps  of  some  forty  townships,  with  all  the  entries 
indicated,  and  to  send  me  daily  information  of  new 
entries.  Finally  I  engaged  two  carpenters  and  bought  a 
large  quantity  of  assorted  lumber,  taking  care  to  see  that 
the  lot  included  material  for  my  tramways. 

Jorman's  letter  came  at  length,  enclosing  a  single  cer-; 
tified  check  for  $10,000.  There  was  no  bank  at  Dekker-. 
ville,  and  getting  so  large  a  check  cashed  by  any  merchant 
there  was  out  of  the  question.  As  Printock,  my  fore- 
man, had  given  me  a  long  list  of  tools  to  be  bought, 
which  could  not  be  found  short  of  Omaha,  I  took  pas- 
sage on  a  steamer  which  was  just  starting  for  that  place. 
I  had  sold  my  horse  with  a  view  to  buying  one  which 
would  suit  me  better. 


200  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

On  my  return  from  Omaha  I  had  the  good  fortune  to 
be  on  the  same  steamer  with  Sekell  and  Cropperton  and 
a  large  force  of  laborers,  who  were  to  be  followed  by 
other  companies  in  rapid  succession.  Our  conversation 
was  extremely  valuable  to  me,  but  I  have  no  space  for  a 
record  of  it.  When  I  entered  Ipperson's  store  he 
evinced  some  surprise  and  a  good  deal  of  excitement. 
"  I  was  beginning  to  think,"  he  said,  "  that  you  were  the 
most  accomplished  confidence-man  in  the  world,  and  had 
given  me  the  slip."  But  when  I  had  handed  him  the 
Omaha  drafts  on  New  York,  and  offered  to  compensate 
him  for  any  loss  he  had  sustained  by  the  mishap,  he 
seemed  to  regard  me  more  favorably  than  ever  before.  I 
observed  that  several  other  persons  looked  at  me  curi- 
ously, but  I  took  no  time  for  reflection  on  the  circum- 
stance. It  was  not  until  long  afterwards  that  I  became 
fully  aware  of  all  the  excitement  which  my  absence  had 
occasioned. 

From  that  time  my  business  went  on  prosperously. 
Printock  made  his  appearance  with  nearly  fifty  "  hands," 
many  of  whom  had  worked  under  him  before  ;  my  car- 
penters were  ready  for  action  ;  my  lumber  was  landed, 
and  my  car-irons  soon  arrived.  In  less  than  a  week  I 
had  a  building  of  rough  boards  thrown  up,  received  my 
maps,  and  opened  my  land-agency.  I  soon  had  to  employ 
several  assistants  in  that  department  of  my  work.  Two 
young  men,  who  were  experienced  in  finding  corners  and 
tracing  lines,  were  furnished  with  horses  and  kept  busy 
in  pointing  out  vacant  tracts.  The  public  sale  had  taken 
place,  and  the  rush  for  choice  lands  was  immense.  I 
often  had,  in  one  day,  as  much  as  sixty  dollars  of  clear 
profit  to  set  off  against  the  five  dollars  which  I  was  pay- 
ing my  foreman. 


MAKING    MONEY.  2OI 

I  was  in  the  habit  of  going  out  among  my  workmen 
two  or  three  times  a  day,  and  one  circumstance  gave  me 
great  favor  with  them  and  disposed  them  to  do  the  best 
they  could  for  me.  During  my  absence  a  big  brawny 
fellow,  by  the  name  of  Shockput,  had  put  up  a  shanty 
on  my  land  and  opened  a  grog  shop  and  gambling  den 
in  it.  He  took  my  demand  for  the  removal  of  the  build- 
ing very  coolly,  informed  me  that  there  was  no  "  forcible 
entry  and  detainer"  law  in  the  territory,  and  said  he 
should  get  his  "pile  made"  before  I  could  bring  an 
action  of  ejectment  to  hearing  in  the  territorial  court.  I 
ascertained  that  he  was  correct  as  to  the  law,  and  sup- 
posed that  I  should  have  to  endure  the  nuisance.  But 
when  I  went  among  my  men,  one  morning,  I  found  this 
Shockput  cursing  a  slender  little  fellow,  who  had  weak- 
ened himself  by  dissipation,  and  about  to  assault  him.  I 
shouted  :  "  Hold  on  there,"  and  placed  myself  before 
the  bully. 

"  Perhaps  you  are  going  to  take  this  up,  you " 

he  said. 

"  Yes,"  I  answered,  "  that  is  just  what  I  am  going  to 
do.  I  am  not  going  to  have  one  of  my  men  run  over  by 
an  insolent  bully." 

At  that  he  started  to  bring  his  big  fist  down  upon  the  top 
of  my  head  ;  but  I  knocked  him  over  and  repeated  the 
proceeding  till  he  said,  "I  've  got  enough."  I  had  taken 
lessons  in  boxing  and  had  kept  myself  well  up  in  athletics 
by  sportive  scuffling  with  other  drummers.  I  made  some 
remarks  about  the  grogshop  being  on  my  land  and  my 
being  destitute  of  legal  redress,  when  a  tall,  lank,  sandy- 
haired  fellow,  who  went  by  the  name  of  "  Ferd,"  asked 
me  : 

"  Why  don't  you  put  your  nully-bony  on  'im."     Then 


202  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

he  told,  in  his  peculiar  way,  of  a  judgment  debtor  whom 
a  constable  had  frightened  into  showing  some  hidden 
property  by  threatening  to  return  the  execution  "  Nulla 
bona."  The  next  morning  I  found  the  lumber,  of  which 
the  shanty  had  been  built,  all  lying  in  a  neighboring 
ravine.  "  I  guess  it 's  a  case  of  nully-bony,"  said  Ferd  ; 
"  I  would  n't  ask  any  questions  about  it  if  I  was  you." 

Crowds  of  people  were  arriving  daily.  Many  proposed 
to  establish  themselves  in  business  at  Mackopah,  and 
many  more  pushed  farther  on  as  fast  as  they  could 
select  their  locations.  The  part  of  Gabineau's  plateau 
adjoining  the  ground  on  which  I  was  operating  was 
rapidly  covered  with  structures  of  one  kind  or  another, 
some  of  them  permanent  and  many  of  them  temporary. 
Hundreds  were  living  in  tents.  All  was  excitement  and 
hubbub  ;  and  every  one's  head  was  more  or  less  turned. 
Groggeries  sprung  up  on  every  side  ;  and  gambling  was 
carried  on  in  all  of  them.  Those  who  suspended  their 
work  on  Sunday  were  apt  to  pass  the  day  in  carousing. 
Numbers  of  men,  who  must  have  lived  respectably  at  the 
East,  could  be  seen  playing  cards  at  open  doors,  with 
whiskey  bottles  on  the  table,  every  Sunday.  I  needed 
all  my  principles  and  all  my  ties,  to  brace  me  up  against 
the  destructive  power  of  such  a  social  atmosphere. 
Sekell  soon  got  his  men  distributed  along  the  line  at 
some  distance  from  the  town,  and  I  saw  very  little 
of  him.  But  he  had  said  :  "  You  must  stand  up  for  the 
Master,  George  "  ;  and  an  earnest  Christian  woman  be- 
sought me  with  tears  to  "  do  something  in  opposition  to 
this  terrible  wickedness."  As  yet,  no  missionary  of 
any  denomination  had  come  upon  the  ground.  My 
courage  was  tested  with  unprecedented  severity,  and  I 
fear  it  would  have  failed  me,  had  it  not  been  that 


MAKING    MONEY.  203 

the  thought  of  my  behaving  like  a  sneak  always  made 
me  furious.  But  I  acted  boldly  enough  at  last.  I  gave 
notice  of  a  Bible-reading  service  in  my  land-agency 
office,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  room  well- 
filled.  I  had  to  conduct  the  opening  exercises  myself ; 
and  that  brought  me  an  opportunity  for  a  little  progress 
in  self-knowledge.  While  I  was  praying,  I  heard  a 
shuffling  and  tittering  which  irritated  me  so  much,  that  I 
was  about  to  call  the  Lord's  attention  to  "  such  fools  as 
are  incapable  of  decent  behavior "  ;  when  there  came 
to  my  ears,  in  a  hoarse,  angry  whisper,  the  words  :  "  Bet- 
ter dry  up,"  and  the  disorder  ceased.  When  I  passed 
out  of  the  door  with  the  rest,  at  the  close  of  our  session, 
Ferd  was  saying  to  a  young  dandy  : 

"  If  you  cut  up  any  more  of  your  didos  when  our  old 
man  is  a-prayin'  I  '11  spile  that  pooty  face  o'  your'n.  I 
don't  hold  more  'an  four  aces  on  religion  myself  ;  but 
there  ain't  no  little  city  cuss  going  to  make  fun  of  our 
Sunday-school.  You  can  jest  bet  your  knee-pans  on 
that." 

I  conducted  similar  exercises  every  Sunday  till  a 
preacher  made  his  appearance  ;  and  several  persons  as- 
sured me  that  the  movement  was  of  great  moral  benefit 
to  them. 

As  soon  as  the  grading  was  sufficiently  advanced  I  had 
my  Gabineau  land  laid  out  in  streets,  blocks,  and  lots, 
and  filed  a  map  of  "  Jorman  &  Bidrop's  Allotment " 
among  the  public  records.  I  made  my  principal  street, 
running  from  the  railroad  to  the  plateau,  a  continuation 
of  Gabineau's  most  important  street,  and  gave  it  the  same 
name — "  Third  Street."  After  the  grading  on  that  tract 
had  been  completed  I  laid  out  a  broad  street  and  made 
an  excellent  roadway  from  the  plateau  nearly  through 


204  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

the  centre  of  our  quarter  section.  Then  I  laid  out  and 
worked  a  street  about  midway  of  the  eastern  slope  of 
the  ridge,  and  as  near  as  I  could  to  our  eastern  line.  I 
was  obliged  to  give  the  street  a  gentle  curve  and  to 
throw  away  some  land  ;  but  I  secured  a  frontage  of 
building-sites  overlooking  the  plateau,  and  half  a  mile 
long.  The  competition  for  our  best  lots  was  very  active, 
and  I  made  many  sales.  Jorman  had  given  me  a  power 
of  attorney,  enabling  me  to  convey  his  interest  with  my 
own.  Ipperson  took  in  two  partners  who  had  an  abun- 
dance of  capital,  and  I  made  my  heaviest  sale  to  that 
firm.  They  bought  two  hundred  feet  of  my  water-front, 
extending  from  the  river  to  River  Street,  for  $20,000. 
They  determined  on  establishing  a  jobbing  business  in 
all  kinds  of  merchandise,  reasoning  that,  as  they  would 
get  heavy  discounts  in  view  of  the  largeness  of  their 
purchases,  and  secure  special  rates  on  transportation 
lines,  they  could  make  it  an  object  for  the  merchants  at 
the  railroad  stations  to  buy  of  them  instead  of  ordering 
from  the  East.  "  At  any  rate,"  said  Ipperson,"  "  we 
can't  load  up  too  heavily  for  next  winter.  Thousands 
and  thousands  have  been  pushing  on  back  of  us,  and  in 
a  little  while  now  the  ice  in  the  rivers  will  shut  them  out 
from  the  rest  of  the  world." 

I  will  trouble  the  reader  with  no  additional  particu- 
lars, but  will  say  that  when  I  returned  to  New  York  I 
was  able  to  pay  back  to  my  partner  all  that  he  had  ad- 
vanced, and  then  to  divide  with  him  a  sum  so  large  that 
I  could  secure  a  clear  title  to  Ellermere  and  have  still  in 
hand  a  working  capital  quite  sufficient  for  all  I  then  had 
in  view.  I  had  sold  my  land-agency  business  for  $3,000. 
In  dismissing  this  enterprise  I  will  add  that  Jorman  and 
I  gave  Edward  Sekell  a  power  of  attorney  by  virtue  of 


MAKING    MONEY.  205 

which  he  has  managed  our  Mackopah  interests,  from 
that  time  to  this,  without  any  interference  on  our  part. 
His  own  investment,  which  I  had  persuaded  him  to  ven- 
ture on,  has  made  him  as  rich  as  he  cares  to  be,  though 
he  is  still  acting  as  General  Manager  of  the  Withlematchie 
and  Western  Railroad.  He  has  his  precious  wife  and 
beautiful  children  around  him  at  his  delightful  home  in 
Mackopah,  and  saving  influences  are  going  out  from  that 
home  all  the  time.  God  bless  Edward  Sekell  and  his 
household  ! 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE    BLUE    PACKAGE. 

A  BOUT  the  middle  of  September,  the  wires  having 
**•  been  extended  to  Mackopah,  I  received  the  follow- 
ing telegram  : 

"  Please  have  papers  received  at  Parcelton  delivered  to 
Mr.  Jorman.  JULIA  E.  ERDBY." 

Of  course  I  telegraphed  the  necessary  directions  con- 
cerning the  Blue  Package  to  my  mother.  The  next  day 
I  received  from  Jorman  a  letter  which  enabled  me  to 
account  quite  satisfactorily  to  myself  for  the  order  from 
Mrs.  Erdby.  The  letter  ran  as  follows  : 

"  MY  DEAR  NOLLY  : — As  sure  as  you  are  born,  I  be- 
lieve I  am  converted.  Anyhow  a  very  strange  thing  has 
happened  to  me.  Let  me  tell  you  about  it.  Something 
like  two  weeks  ago,  I  stepped  into  Christern's,  as  I  often 
do,  and  tumbled  over  his  last  lot  of  imported  books  in 
various  languages.  Among  the  rest  I  found  a  copy  of 
the  Greek  New  Testament,  which  struck  my  fancy.  It 
was  an  octavo  volume.  The  paper  was  heavy  and 
smooth  ;  the  type  was  large  and  clear,  and  the  text  was 
printed  in  paragraphs, — not  ruined  by  being  split  up  into 
little  verses.  I  was  so  pleased  with  the  book  that  I 
bought  it  and  took  it  to  my  room  in  the  hotel.  That 
evening  I  began  reading  at  the  first  chapter  of  Matthew. 
I  had  a  copy  of  the  revised  English  version  which  I 
looked  into  when  I  found  any  difficulty,  and  some- 

206 


THE    SLUE    PACKAGE.  207 

times  I  referred  to  my  Liddell  and  Scott.  Going  on  in 
that  way,  I  gave  closer  attention  to  the  meaning  of  the 
text  than  I  had  ever  given  before.  The  plain  truth  is 
that  I  had  scarcely  read  the  New  Testament  at  all  after 
really  learning  how  to  read.  Well,  I  kept  the  thing  up 
night  after  night.  I  was  not  conscious  of  any  particular 
object  in  doing  so.  I  read  because  I  was  inclined  to 
read,  and  the  simple  explanation  of  the  fact  is  that  the 
book  interested  me.  Three  nights  ago,  I  finished  the 
last  chapter  of  John.  It  must  have  been  pretty  late,  and 
I  don't  know  how  long  I  sat  in  a  sort  of  reverie — almost 
a  trance — after  I  had  stopped  reading.  A  head  of  Christ, 
which  impressed  me  very  much  when  I  saw  it  in  one  of 
the  Continental  galleries — at  Milan,  I  think, — worked 
itself  into  the  picture  which  my  imagination  created. 
Many  of  the  scenes,  illumined  by  the  presence  of  The 
Wonderful,  passed  before  me.  I  saw  Him  encountering 
the  tempter,  feeding  the  multitude,  having  compassion 
on  lowly  sufferers,  reclining  at  the  table  of  the  publican, 
conversing  with  the  woman  of  Samaria,  weeping  with  the 
sisters  of  Lazarus.  I  saw  Him  sitting  on  the  Mount, 
inculcating  a  morality  which  had  never  before  been 
dreamed  of  in  this  world.  Many  of  the  '  gracious  words 
which  proceeded  out  of  His  mouth  '  recurred  to  me.  I 
was  in  complete  accord  with  Him  as  he  exposed  and 
denounced  the  haughty  self-righteousness  and  cruel 
bigotry  of  the  Pharisees.  More  and  more  He  became  to 
me  One  endowed  with  a  wisdom  before  which  I  could 
but  stand  in  awe.  When  His  last  discourse  to  His  dis- 
ciples and  His  prayer  for  them  passed  through  my  mind, 
I  received  a  conception  of  love,  to  which  I  had  been  a 
stranger ;  and  there  was  matter  for  amazement  to  me 
when  I  saw  Him  holding  up  to  His  hearers  the  pros- 


208  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

pect  of  deadly  persecution  and  universal  hatred,  and 
inspiring  them  with  the  heroism  still  to  go  forward.  The 
trial  and  the  crucifixion  passed  before  me,  and  still  The 
Wonderful  was  present.  I  was  first  aroused  to  self- 
consciousness  by  hearing  from  my  own  lips  the  words  : 
'  Ho  Kyrios  mou  kai  ho  Theos  mou — The  Lord  of  me 
and  the  God  of  me.' 

"  Nothing  in  this  world  ever  startled  me  as  I  was 
startled  at  that  moment  by  the  sound  of  my  own  voice. 
I  walked  wildly  about  my  room,  and  my  head  was  all  on 
fire.  When  I  became  able  to  think  connectedly  the  con- 
viction was  upon  me,  that  my  immediate  business  was 
the  earnest  consideration  of  my  personal  attitude  toward 
Jesus  Christ,  and  that  there  must  be  no  shilly-shallying 
about  it.  You  know  in  a  general  way,  Nolly,  that  I  have 
not  been  prepared  to  accept  any  religion  as  supernatu- 
rally  introduced  into  the  world.  I  have  been  in  the  habit 
of  regarding  them  all  as  outgrowths,  under  widely  con- 
trasted circumstances,  of  the  inborn  spiritual  forces  of 
Man.  This  view,  as  you  are  aware,  was  not  due  to  any 
skepticism  in  regard  to  the  general  fact  of  supernatural- 
ism.  For  many  years  the  rationalistic  assumption  of  the 
non-existence  of  that  fact  has  appeared  to  me  entirely 
incompatible  with  any  high  order  of  intelligence.  Nor 
have  I  believed,  for  one  moment,  that  all  supernaturalism 
is  aloof  from  the  province  in  which  human  investigation 
can  be  successfully  conducted.  Latterly,  Agnosticism 
has  been  more  offensive  to  me  than  any  thing  else  that 
has  been  promulgated,  except  Materialism.  The  har- 
monies which  pervade  the  universe  sufficiently  demon- 
strated to  me  the  unity  of  creative  energy  and  creative 
design.  The  constitution  of  the  human  soul  and  the 
history  of  mankind  disclosed  to  me,  with  noon-day  clear- 


THE   BLUE    PACKAGE.  209 

ness,  certain  attributes  of  Deity,  as  well  as  the  reality  of 
Divine  purposes  concerning  our  race.  The  trouble  with 
me  was  just  here  :  A  long  time  ago  I  thought  I  found 
things  in  the  writings  which  make  up  the  Bible,  that 
could  not  be  reconciled  with  the  doctrine  of  inspiration 
which  orthodox  men  seemed  to  be  everywhere  main- 
taining ;  and  I  was  such  a  dunce  that  I  supposed  the 
claims  of  Christianity  to  a  supernatural  origin  must  stand 
or  fall  with  that  doctrine.  The  truth  is  that  I  never 
went  at  the  subject  with  any  manly  energy.  All  my 
meditations  on  it  were  no  more  than  a  sort  of  'twixt- 
sleeping-and-waking  dalliance.  I  took  in  a  conception 
of  Christ  which  I  had  gathered  from  one  of  Thomas 
Jefferson's  letters  that  I  had  happened  to  come  across  ; 
and  He  became  to  me  a  gifted  and  benevolent  enthusiast 
who  '  mistook  the  scintillations  of  his  own  fine  genius 
for  an  inspiration  of  a  higher  order.' 

"  Now  I  '11  come  back  to  that  midnight  hour.  The  first 
point  I  got  settled  was  that  the  claims  of  Christianity  are 
in  no  sense  dependent  on  the  doctrine  or  the  fact  of  in- 
spiration. '  Suppose,'  I  said,  '  we  set  it  down  that  these 
biographies  which  I  have  been  reading  are  of  purely 
human  origin.  How  did  those  men  come  by  their  con- 
ception of  the  character  of  Jesus  ?  There  had  been 
nothing  like  it  in  the  world  before.  There  is  nothing 
like  it  in  the  world  to-day.  Numberless  men  of  genius 
have  set  themselves  at  the  portrayal  of  imaginary  heroes 
in  whom  their  ideals  of  the  perfect  man  were  to  be  em- 
bodied ;  and  the  Jesus  depicted  here  stands  unapproach- 
able still.  That  the  picture  here  presented  was  taken 
from  life,  nobody  b*rt-a-  dunce  can  doubt.  That  the 
teachings  here  recorded  came  forth  from  the  lips  of 
Jesus,  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  history  gives  us  no  in- 


2IO  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

timation  of  any  other  personage  from  whom  such  teach- 
ings could  have  come.  After  all  these  centuries,  their 
meaning  is  just  beginning  to  be  fathomed.  There  is  no 
question  about  His  having  put  forth  a  claim  of  super- 
natural wisdom,  paramount  authority,  and  distinctive 
oneness  with  the  Father.  Will  any  fool  attempt  to 
reconcile  the  morality  which  He  taught  and  the  morality 
which  He  practised,  with  deliberate  imposture  ?  Was 
He  mistaken  about  Himself  ?  Endowed  with  a  wisdom 
never  matched  on  earth  ;  displaying  a  common-sense 
which  turned  the  slightest  incident  to  account,  was  He 
likely  to  be  cumbered  with  that  self-ignorance  which  is 
the  surest  indication  of  intellectual  feebleness  ? ' 

"  I  do  not  know  how  long  such  thoughts  as  I  have 
hinted  at  engrossed  me.  I  know,  however,  that  the  day 
was  beginning  to  dawn  before  I  sought  my  bed.  I  do 
not  remember  having  come  to  any  definite  resolution  ; 
but  I  found  myself  saying  again  :  '  Ho  Kyrios  mou  kai 
ho  Theos  mou,'  and  I  saw  the  characteristics  of  Jesus 
expanding  to  boundlessness  and  becoming  the  attributes 
of  God.  I  remember  how  mad  you  got  when  I  intimated 
that  the  Signifer  was  laboring  under  an  illusion  while  he 
prayed  ;  and  I  don't  wonder  at  it  now.  I  am  satisfied 
that  no  man  can  gain  more  than  a  mere  suggestion  of 
the  joy  which  may  be  yielded  by  perception  of  Goodness, 
till  his  soul  has  poured  itself  out  in  adoration  of  the 
God  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  equally  plain  to  me 
that,  for  moral  strengthening,  and  for  the  sharpening  of 
moral  discernment,  the  practice  of  worshipping  that  God 
is  worth  a  thousand  times  more  than  all  other  resources. 
How  contemptibly  silly  Herbert  Spencer  makes  himself 
appear  when  he  pretends  that  he  can  see  in  Christian 
worship  only  the  assumption  that  God  is  fond  of  adula- 


THE    BLUE    PACKAGE.  211 

tion.  In  tracing  the  course  of  evolution,  he  has  not  come 
upon  the  truth  that  adoration  is  enjoined  upon  man  for 
the  \inspeakable  good  of  man.  But  I  must  not  criticise 
him  too  severely  ;  for  I  had  no  clear  apprehension  of 
that  truth,  myself,  a  few  days  ago. 

"  I  have  taken  three  days  for  quiet  reflection  since  that 
decisive  night.  I  was  never  in  a  calmer  frame  of  mind 
than  at  this  moment.  I  have  thought,  over  and  over 
again,  of  that  letter  from  your  father  which  led  you  to 
espouse  Christianity  ;  and  I  can't  help  wondering  that 
his  points  made  so  little  impression  on  me.  They  now 
seem  to  me  perfectly  conclusive. 

"  This  thing  is  going  to  make  quite  a  difference  in  my 
way  of  life.  I  have  tried  to  be  a  pretty  decent  fellow  of 
late  years.  I  think  my  moral  taste  has  been  cultivated 
to  some  extent,  and  I  fancy  that  a  fair  measure  of  benev- 
olence has  mingled  with  my  impulses.  But  the  truth  is, 
Nolly,  that,  until  three  days  ago,  I  never  had  a  clear-cut 
conception  of  such  a  thing  as  living  beneficently.  Now, 
however,  these  words  from  the  Master's  lips  are  contin- 
ually recurring  to  me  :  '  'Ouk  diakon^th<?nai,  alia  diakon- 
^sai, — Not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister.'  I 
think  I  am  likely  to  take  this  expression  for  my  motto. 

"  I  must  tell  you  of  one  particular  step  which  I  have 
made  up  my  mind  to  take.  I  am  going  to  ask  Serena  to 
marry  me.  I  guess  I  have  been  in  love  with  her  ever 
since  we  left  Florida.  O  jimminy  !  how  I  have  wanted 
to  see  her.  I  don't  think  I  should  ever  have  proposed 
to  her  if  this  thing  had  not  come  upon  me.  I  have  not 
cared  a  snap  about  that  scandal  since  we  parted  at  the 
Grand  Union.  I  knew  then,  as  soon  as  you  got  mad, 
thatjivw  knew  Serena  to  be  blameless.  But  I  never  did 
her  justice  in  my  conceptions  till  now — never  accurately 


212  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

measured  the  moral  distance  at  which  she  stood  above 
me.  I  saw,  though,  that  her  religiousness  would  often 
take  her  out  of  my  sphere  ;  and  that  is  the  thing  that 
would  have  kept  me  from  courting  her.  I  could  n't 
endure  the  thought  of  such  separations.  You  never  im- 
agined how  much  it  hurt  me  to  be  obliged  to  fall  out  of 
line  when  her  movement  for  saving  Orrin  was  culmi- 
nating. But  I  feel  now  that  I  can  take  her  by  the  hand 
and  walk  through  the  world  with  her,  and  not  have  to 
let  go  for  an  instant.  If  I  can  still  have  hold  of  her 
hand  I  can  go  wherever  she  goes.  But  oh,  how  much  I 
need  her  !  How  much  more  wisely  I  can  use  my  money 
if  I  can  have  her  to  counsel  me  !  I  shall  not  tell  her 
any  thing  about  this  new  attitude  of  mine  till  after  I 
have  proposed.  I  am  intellectually  convinced  that  she 
would  not  suspect  me  of  having  changed  my  position 
merely  as  a  preliminary  to  wooing  her  ;  but  I  can't  have 
any  possibility  of  such  a  suspicion  lying  open.  I  am  not 
at  all  sanguine  as  to  the  result.  The  fact  is  I  am  terribly 
afraid  I  shall  be  rejected.  Nevertheless,  I  have  deter- 
mined to  go  to  Boston  to-morrow  and  make  a  trial  of  it. 
Perhaps  a  fellow's  making  up  his  mind  to  go  a-courting 
is  not  a  very  common  result  of  getting  religion  ;  but  that 
is  the  way  the  thing  seems  to  turn  out  in  my  case. 

"  O  Nolly  !  how  glad  I  am  to  be  able  to  subscribe 
myself, 

"  Your  BROTHER, 

"  RALPH  JORMAN." 

I  will  now  disclose  the  contents  of  the  Blue  Package, 
which  I  was  afterwards  permitted  to  copy,  omitting  the 
dates  and  merely  formal  portions  of  the  several  docu- 
ments, as  well  as  the  affidavits  attached  to  them.  The 
first  paper  was 


THE  BLUE  PACKAGE.  213 

JUDGE  CRASBURG'S  STATEMENT. 

"  I  knew  Julia  Evalstone  in  her  childhood.  She  was 
a  constant  playmate  of  my  younger  children.  Her 
father  was  an  industrious  carpenter,  with  a  strongly 
religious  turn  of  mind.  He  earned  a  comfortable  living 
for  his  family,  but  never  accumulated  property.  As  a 
child  Julia  was  distinguished  by  the  quietude  of  her 
manners,  the  sunniness  of  her  disposition,  and  a  certain 
watchful  benevolence.  She  was  a  natural  peace-maker, 
and  no  strife  among  the  other  children  could  proceed 
very  far  when  she  was  present.  Though  she  was  never 
boisterous  in  childish  sports,  she  evinced  a  very  keen  en- 
joyment of  them.  As  she  approached  womanhood  she 
exhibited  a  maturity  of  judgment  and  a  general  intel- 
lectual ability  quite  remarkable  in  a  girl  of  her  years. 
In  this  respect  she  differed  greatly  from  all  the  other 
members  of  her  family,  except  her  older  brother  Egbert, 
who  went  to  California  a  short  time  before  her  marriage. 
These  two  seemed  to  have  had  transmitted  to  them  the 
intellectual  characteristics  of  their  maternal  grandfather. 
Egbert  and  Julia  were  bound  together  by  such  an  affec- 
tion as  seldom  exists,  even  between  brother  and  sister. 
The  boy's  regard,  especially,  fell  but  little  short  of  idola- 
try, and  he  said  more  than  once  in  my  hearing  that  he 
had  no  wish  to  acquire  property  except  on  Julia's  ac- 
count. 

"  At  the  time  of  her  marriage,  the  fact  of  Julia  Eval- 
stone's  residence  in  Parcelton  had  become  a  source  of 
pride  to  most  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  village,  and  her 
going  from  among  us  was  very  generally  regarded  as  an 
affliction.  There  were  very  few  of  our  families  to  whom 
she  had  not  endeared  herself  by  an  affectionate  and 
helpful  interest  in  their  welfare.  I  never  became  well 


214  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

acquainted  with  her  husband,  Charles  J.  Erdby.  He 
spent  very  little  time  at  Parcelton,  and  never  seemed  to 
feel  at  home  among  us.  He  was  understood  to  be  very 
straitlaced  in  his  way  of  life,  and  very  intolerant  of 
any  departure  from  the  path  in  which  he  was  walking, 
but  I  could  not  divest  myself  of  the  impression  that  he 
lacked  solidity  of  moral  worth.  He  appeared  to  me  to 
be  of  an  inferior  calibre,  both  intellectually  and  morally. 
Many  indications  went  to  show  that  he  was  persistently 
endeavoring  to  detach  his  wife  from  her  relations  and 
the  friends  of  her  childhood,  but  none  of  us  had  any 
fear  of  his  being  successful  in  that. 

"  About  two  years  before  Julia  Erdby's  return  to  take 
up  her  residence  among  us  again,  I  received  information 
of  Egbert  Evalstone's  death,  and  of  my  being  named  in 
his  will  as  a  co-executor  with  James  Minthall,  of  Stock- 
ton, California.  A  copy  of  the  will  having  been  sent  me, 
I  found  that  Egbert  had  left  to  his  father,  Jared  Eval- 
stone,  to  his  sister,  Sarah  Evalstone,  and  to  Catherine  C. 
Evalstone,  the  only  child  of  his  deceased  brother,  three 
thousand  dollars  each,  and  that  he  had  made  Julia  E. 
Erdby  his  residuary  legatee.  Owing  to  my  distrust  of 
Charles  J.  Erdby,  I  enjoined  on  all  the  legatees  com- 
plete silence  in  regard  to  the  contents  of  the  will. 
The  securities  and  other  personal  property  of  the  de- 
ceased were  soon  realized  upon,  and  Minthall  estimated 
the  value  of  the  real  estate  bequeathed,  and  directed  to 
be  sold  by  the  executors,  at  twenty  thousand  dollars,  but 
expressed  himself  in  favor  of  awaiting  a  favorable  turn 
in  the  real-estate  market  before  making  sales.  When 
the  proceeds  of  the  personal  property  were  remitted  to 
me,  I  paid  off  the  other  legacies  and  had  between  thir- 
teen thousand  and  thirteen  thousand  five  hundred  dollars 


THE    BLUE    PACKAGE.  215 

in  hand  for  Mrs.  Erdby.  -I  then  wrote  her  a  statement 
of  all  the  facts,  insisting  that  she  should  keep  entirely 
silent  in  regard  to  them,  and  arrange  for  an  early  and 
prolonged  visit  to  her  old  home.  This  communication  I 
enclosed  in  a  letter  to  Isaac  Norbro,  who  had  gone  from 
Parcelton  and  established  himself  as  a  family  grocer  in 
Boston,  and  I  requested  him  to  make  the  delivery  per- 
sonally and  very  privately.  Julia  arrived  in  a  few  days, 
and  remained  several  weeks.  The  monies  inherited  by 
her  father,  sister,  and  niece  were  invested  according  to 
her  advice,  and  so  judicious  was  her  management  that  I 
urged  her  to  proceed  in  the  same  way  with  her  own,  and 
so  to  place  them  that  they  could  not  be  reached  by  her 
husband  or  his  creditors.  At  this  point  I  encountered  a 
firm  resistance.  She  said  that  she  should  choose  to 
throw  the  money  away  in  preference  to  concealing  from 
her  husband  the  fact  of  her  having  it,  and  that  her  see- 
ing any  creditors  of  his  go  unpaid  while  she  possessed 
the  means  of  satisfying  their  demands  was  out  of  the 
question.  She  expressed  a  determination  to  hand  over 
to  her  husband  at  once  the  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars. 
After  many  earnest  arguments  on  the  subject,  we  finally 
arrived  at  a  compromise.  In  consideration  of  my  de- 
sisting from  all  opposition  to  the  step  on  which  she  had 
resolved,  Julia  promised  that  every  thing  pertaining  to 
the  real  estate  which  she  had  inherited,  and  to  the  avails 
of  it  which  might  come  into  my  hands,  should  remain  a 
profound  secret  between  herself  and  me.  It  was  a  part 
of  this  agreement  that  all  my  communications  to  her  by 
letter  or  telegraph  should  be  under  cover  to  Narbro. 
When  she  returned  to  Boston  she  had  in  her  porte-monnaie 
a  draft  of  the  Bank  of  Parcelton  on  New  York,  to  the 
order  of  C.  J.  Erdby,  for  ten  thousand  dollars,  having 


2l6  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

still  in  the  bank  to  her  own  credit  less  than  three  thou- 
sand dollars. 

"  After  a  few  months,  I  began  to  receive  remittances 
from  Minthall  on  account  of  proceeds  of  real-estate 
sales.  Under  Mrs.  Erdby's  general  instructions,  I  kept 
a  handsome  balance  to  her  credit  in  the  bank,  and  in- 
vested for  her  in  government  bonds  exclusively.  From 
time  to  time,  she  sent  me  checks,  payable  to  my  order, 
with  directions  to  use  the  proceeds  for  certain  charitable 
objects,  which  she  clearly  specified  ;  and  I  willingly 
acted  as  her  agent  in  those  matters.  I  had  in  my  safe 
seventeen  thousand-dollar  United  States  bonds,  belong- 
ing to  her,  when  I  received  a  telegram  which  read  as 
follows  : 

" '  HON.  E.  CRASBURG  : — Please  bring  all  my  bonds  to 
Boston  immediately.  No  other  way  to  avert  ruin.  I  need 
your  advice.  JULIA  E.  ERDBY.' 

"  It  was  late  in  the  evening  when  this  despatch  arrived, 
and,  as  I  was  ill  at  the  time,  I  delivered  the  bonds  to  my 
son,  Edward,  who  was  associated  with  me  in  the  practice 
of  law  ;  and  he  started  for  Boston  by  the  first  train.  The 
remaining  incidents  of  the  occasion  will  be  related  by 
my  son. 

"  When  Julia  returned  to  Parcelton  all  her  available 
means  consisted  of  a  single  thousand-dollar  bond  and  a 
few  hundred  dollars  in  money.  Her  appearance,  at  first, 
was  somewhat  surprising  to  me.  She  seemed  to  give 
little  thought  to  the  loss  of  her  money,  and  was  by  no 
means  downcast.  But  there  was  a  certain  sternness  in 
her  countenance,  which  made  me  say  to  myself  that  she 
could  witness  the  infliction  of  deserved  punishment  with 
entire  equanimity.  Afterwards,  however,  it  became  evi- 


THE    BLUE    PACKAGE.  217 

dent  that  she  was  taking  herself  to  task  ;  and  I  ascer- 
tained that  she  was  tracing  the  downfall  of  her  husband 
to  her  own  fault  in  giving  him  the  ten  thousand  dollars, 
and  was  suffering  remorse  in  view  of  that  action.  But  a 
person  of  her  robust  intellectuality  could  not  remain  long 
in  that  frame  of  mind.  Having  been  conscious  of  the 
purest  and  most  unselfish  motives,  she  saw  it  was  wrong 
in  her  to  blame  herself  for  lacking  omniscience. 

"Some  other  remittances  came  from  California,  and, 
when  the  settlement  of  the  estate  of  Egbert  Evalstone 
was  concluded,  Julia  was  able  to  pay  for  a  modest  home 
in  Boston,  besides  having  an  invested  basis  of  income 
amounting,  I  judge,  to  about  fifteen  hundred  dollars  an- 
nually. She  removed  to  Boston  in  order  to  secure  edu- 
cational advantages  for  her  son  and  her  niece,  and,  for  a 
year  or  two,  she  supplemented  her  income  by  giving 
lessons  in  music.  EPHRAIM  CRASBURG." 

The  next  documents  are  the  following  three  letters 
written  during  the  summer  preceding  the  break-up  of  the 
Erdby  family  : 

I. 

"  DEAR  JUDGE  CRASBURG  : — I  am  very  much  afraid 
that  I  did  wrong  in  not  taking  your  advice.  The  money 
seems  to  be  having  a  very  bad  effect  on  my  husband. 
He  is  very  different  from  what  he  used  to  be,  and  the 
change  is  far  from  being  for  the  better.  Formerly  he 
was  always  about  the  same,  and  when  he  went  to  the 
bank  in  the  morning  I  knew  how  he  would  appear  at 
dinner-time.  But  now  I  never  know  what  to  expect. 
Sometimes  he  seems  morose,  and  then  again  he  will  be 
overflowing  with  pleasure.  I  write  this  in  order  that  you 
may  not  scold  me  when  I  tell  you  what  I  want  to  do. 


2l8  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

From  such  remarks  as  Mr.  Erdby  makes  when  he  is  in 
high  spirits,  I  infer  that  he  has  gone  to  speculating  ;  and 
I  do  not  think  he  is  calculated  to  be  successful  in  that 
way.  In  fact,  I  have  got  it  settled  in  my  mind  that  he 
is  going  to  lose  the  ten  thousand  dollars  and  all  he  had 
of  his  own.  It  seems  to  me  that  none  of  the  money 
which  my  dear  brother  left  me  is  going  to  do  any  good, 
except  what  I  give  away  ;  and  I  cannot  bear  to  think  of 
having  all  his  hard  work  in  accumulating  that  money 
turn  out  to  be  useless.  Now,  my  dear  friend,  I  enclose 
my  check  for  $1,000,  and,  if  it  will  not  be  too  great 
a  burden,  I  want  you  to  use  it  for  the  benefit  of  the  pub- 
lic library  at  Parcelton  in  such  a  way  that  it  will  do  as 
much  good  as  possible.  If  you  can  spare  time  to  select 
and  purchase  books  yourself,  and  have  them  placed  in 
the  library,  instead  of  paying  the  money  to  the  treasurer, 
I  shall  know  that  some  persons  are  being  helped  on  ac- 
count of  dear  Egbert's  toil.  I  wish  there  could  be  a  new 
library  building.  How  nice  it  would  be  to  have  a  pleas- 
ant reading-room  on  the  first  floor,  and  a  good  large  place 
for  social  gatherings  on  the  floor  above.  Then,  if  some 
of  you  educated  people  would  take  a  little  pains  to  keep 
up  conversations  that  would  excite  an  interest  in  the  books, 
a  great  deal  might  be  done  for  making  the  tone  of  society 
better.  Do  you  not  think  that  some  one  would  give  a  lot  ? 
The  building  could  be  put  up  without  much  expense  ;  and 
I  should  take  pleasure  in  making  a  liberal  contribution. 
"  I  was  very  much  interested  in  what  you  wrote  to  me 
about  the  Sherman  children.  I  hope  you  will  let  me 
know  if  they  are  going  to  need  warmer  clothing  before 
cold  weather  comes,  and  if  there  is  any  danger  of  their 
having  to  be  kept  out  of  school. 

"  I  remain  your  sincere  friend, 

"  JULIA  E.  ERDBY." 


THE    BLUE    PACKAGE.  2Ip 

II. 

"  DEAR  JUDGE  CRASBURG  : — I  am  delighted  to  hear 
that  Mr.  Dornley  offers  to  give  a  lot  for  the  library  build- 
ing, and  that  the  people  in  the  village  are  taking  so  much 
interest  in  the  subject.  I  will  come  next  week,  as  you 
request,  and  make  any  suggestions  that  may  occur  to  me 
before  the  contract  for  the  building  is  made.  Is  it  too 
much  to  ask  Mrs.  Crasburg  to  have  a  little  gathering,  so 
that  I  can  talk  the  matter  over  with  some  of  the  ladies  ? 
Don't  let  her  take  the  trouble  to  have  refreshments  ;  but 
if  you  and  Edward  and  two  or  three  others  will  bring  up 
subjects  which  will  give  occasion  for  referring  to  some 
of  your  books,  it  will  be  a  little  start  toward  what  I  have 
in  mind.  Of  course,  there  will  be  no  formality  in  the 
matter,  but  every  thing  will  come  in  naturally.  I  had  to 
be  foolish  and  cry  a  little  when  I  read  in  your  letter  that 
people  were  taking  hold  of  the  enterprise  because,  as 
they  said,  '  Our  Julia  is  at  the  bottom  of  it.'  If  they 
knew  how  my  heart  goes  out  to  them,  they  might  well 
call  me  '  Our  Julia.' 

"  I  shall  try  to  come  on  Tuesday,  and  my  stay  will 
have  to  be  very  short.  I  think  Mr.  Erdby  has  been 
meeting  with  great  losses,  for  he  has  been  very  low- 
spirited  several  days  in  succession. 

"  With  many  thanks  for  your  great  kindness,  I  am  still 

your  young  friend, 

"  JULIA." 
in. 

"  DEAR  JUDGE  CRASBURG  : — The  pastor  has  written 
me  about  the  new  church.  I  am  glad  it  has  been  de- 
cided that  you  will  build,  and  I  want  to  help  liberally. 
But  there  are  some  things  I  want  to  have  understood 
before  I  make  my  subscription.  I  hope  the  building 


220  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

will  not  be  so  expensive  that  the  society  will  be  in  debt, 
because  I  know  that  when  there  is  a  debt  on  a  church 
the  pastor  has  to  suffer  for  it.  Besides  I  disapprove  of 
expensive  ornaments  in  a  house  of  worship.  At  the 
same  time,  a  great  deal  of  care  ought  to  be  exercised 
about  the  inside  work.  When  I  go  into  some  audience- 
rooms  I  become  despondent,  and  my  mind  seems  to  lose 
some  of  its  power  to  take  hold  of  the  truth.  Other  audi- 
ence-rooms make  me  feel  like  dancing.  The  thing  is  to 
have  it  just  right. 

"  If  you  telegraph  me  to  do  so,  I  will  come  to  Parcel- 
ton.  But  you  must  have  arrangements  with  all  the  per- 
sons you  want  me  to  see,  because  I  cannot  stay  more 
than  one  night.  I  must  be  near  my  husband  when  he 
gives  up  all  hope  of  recovering  what  he  has  lost. 

"I  remain  your  obliged  friend, 

"  JULIA  E.  ERDBY." 

STATEMENT    OF  L.  F.  LUMER,  CASHIER  OF  THE    PROGRESS- 
IVE   BANK,    BOSTON,    MASS. 

"  Charles  J.  Erdby  was  employed  in  the  Progressive 
Bank  for  more  than  fifteen  years.  He  was  attentive 
to  his  duties  and  usually  accurate,  and  was  gradually 
promoted.  I  was  never  aware  of  any  ill-will  towards 
him  on  the  part  of  his  associates  in  the  bank,  but  he 
was  never  specially  intimate  with  any  of  them.  The 
general  impression  among  them  seemed  to  be  that  a 
certain  rigidity  in  his  principles  made  it  impossible  for 
him  to  be  genial  ;  and  his  frequently  manifested  intoler- 
ance of  certain  recreations  occasioned  the  exchanging 
of  some  jocose  remarks. 

"  Such  was  the  status  of  Charles  J.  Erdby  among  us 
until  about  the  commencement  of  his  last  year  of  service 


THE    BLUE    PACKAGE.  221 

in  the  bank.  I  then  began  to  hear  such  questions  as  : 
'  What  has  come  over  Erdby  ? '  He  occasioned  sur- 
prise sometimes  by  an  unwonted  geniality,  and  at  other 
times  by  something  bordering  on  quarrelsomeness.  My 
own  impression  was  that  his  nervous  system  was  some- 
what disordered  for  the  time  being.  At  length  I  began 
to  have  difficulty  with  my  balances.  New  discrepancies 
made  their  appearance  month  after  month,  and,  as  the 
footings  were  uniformly  against  the  bank,  I  became  con- 
vinced that  there  was  a  leakage  which  ought  to  be  dis- 
covered at  the  earliest  possible  moment.  I  took  but  one 
person — an  expert — into  my  confidence,  our  president 
being  in  Europe.  We  conducted  our  investigations  at 
night  and  with  the  utmost  secrecy,  and  soon  fastened 
the  guilt  on  Erdby,  whose  duty  it  was  to  receive  a  cer- 
tain class  of  drafts  and  checks,  enter  them  in  his  book, 
and  place  them  in  a  drawer.  We  continued  our  work 
until  I  had  a  complete  list  of  Erdby's  embezzlements, 
with  the  date  of  each,  and  full  descriptions  of  the  stolen 
checks  and  drafts.  The  entire  amount  stolen  was  found 
to  be  $18,273.69,  and  this  sum  corresponded  precisely 
with  .the  aggregate  of  discrepancies  shown  by  our  books. 
"  I  suppose  that,  on  the  day  after  the  conclusion  of 
our  investigation,  I  unconsciously  looked  at  Erdby  or 
spoke  to  him  in  such  a  way  that  he  saw  evidence  of  the 
abatement  of  my  confidence  in  him.  I  had  made  up 
my  mind  to  have  him  arrested  the  next  day.  I  could 
not  free  myself  from  some  compunctions  on  account  of 
his  wife,  who  had  been  a  frequent  visitor  at  my  house, 
and  whom  I  had  come  to  regard  very  highly.  But  such 
crimes  as  Erdby's  had  become  so  frequent  that  I  felt  it 
my  duty  to  be  merciless  in  the  case.  Soon  after  the  gas 
was  lit  in  my  house  that  evening,  Mrs.  Erdby,  the  wife 


222  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

of  Charles  J.  Erdby,  was  announced.  She  asked  for  a 
private  interview  with  me,  and,  as  soon  as  we  were 
seated  in  my  library,  she  said  her  husband  told  her  he 
was  ruined,  and  that  I  knew  he  had  been  taking  money 
from  the  bank.  She  said  he  admitted  that  he  had  lost 
every  dollar  of  the  money  in  speculation.  Then  she  de- 
sired to  know  the  entire  amount  of  the  embezzlements 
that  she  might  see  how  far  her  property  would  go  tow- 
ards making  good  the  losses  of  the  bank.  Having  looked 
at  my  figures  and  the  footing,  she  handed  me  her  bank- 
book, which  showed  a  considerable  amount  to  her  credit 
in  the  Bank  of  Parcelton,  and  told  me  she  had  $17,000  in 
United  States  bonds  ;  that  she  had  telegraphed  for  the 
bonds  and  expected  to  receive  them  the  next  morning. 
Then  she  offered  to  make  good  every  dollar  taken  trom 
the  bank  by  her  husband,  with  interest,  on  condition  that 
I  would  refrain  from  prosecuting  him,  and  bind  myself 
and  all  who  had  knowledge  of  the  matter  to  perpetual 
silence  on  the  subject  of  his  guilt.  I  thought  my  duty  to 
our  stockholders  required  me  to  accept  her  offer.  She 
gave  me  her  check  on  the  Bank  of  Parcelton  for  $3,500, 
and  insisted  on  entering  into  a  written  obligation  to  pay 
the  balance  of  the  sum  embezzled.  I  told  her  I  was 
quite  willing  to  take  her  word  ;  but  she  said  she  might 
die  before  morning,  and  wanted  to  place  the  bank's  right 
to  recover  the  money  beyond  the  possibility  of  a  doubt. 
I  then  took  up  my  list  and  wrote  out  a  note  correspond- 
ing with  each  embezzlement,  computing  interest  from 
the  date*  of  the  crime — which  I  made  also  the  date  of 
the  note — to  the  day  of  payment.  As  neither  of  us 
knew  certainly  whether  the  bonds  were  Mrs.  Erdby's  or 
her  husband's,  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  we  thought  it  best 
that  she  should  sign  the  notes  :  '  C.  J.  Erdby,  per  Julia 


THE   BLUE   PACKAGE.  223 

E.  Erdby.'  In  answer  to  my  expressions  of  sympathy, 
she  said  she  felt  no  lack  of  strength  to  go  through  with 
what  was  before  her,  whatever  it  might  be,  but  could 
hardly  make  it  seem  to  her  that  she  was  the  same  person 
she  had  been  formerly.  The  next  day  a  gentleman,  who 
gave  his  name  as  Crasburg,  called  at  the  bank  with  fif- 
teen United  States  bonds  for  $1,000  each,  and  took  up 
the  notes.  I  handed  him,  also,  a  certificate  to  the  effect 
that  all  claims  of  the  bank  on  Charles  J.  Erdby  were  fully 
adjusted.  On  the  morning  of  the  same  day  Erdby  came 
to  the  bank  and  obtained  leave  of  absence  for  an  indefi- 
nite period. 

"  This  statement  is  made  under  a  suspension  of  the 
injunction  of  silence,  which  I  regard  as  otherwise  in  full 
force. 

"  L.  F.  LUMER, 
"  Cashier,  Progressive  Bank,  Boston." 

STATEMENT    OF    EDWARD    CRASBURG. 

"  My  connection  with  the  affairs  of  Charles  J.  Erdby 
was  of  short  duration.  It  began  with  my  father's  show- 
ing me  a  telegram  from  Mrs.  Julia  Erdby,  summoning 
him  to  bring  her  United  States  bonds  to  Boston  without 
delay.  As  my  father  was  too  ill  to  travel  he  committed 
the  bonds  to  my  care,  and  instructed  me  to  proceed  to 
Boston  by  the  first  train  and  render  Mrs.  Erdby  all  the 
assistance  in  my  power.  I  arrived  at  her  home  about 
noon  the  next  day.  She  put  me  at  once  under  the  re- 
strictions of  professional  confidence,  from  which  I  am 
released  only  for  the  purpose  of  this  statement.  Then 
she  informed  me  that  her  husband  had  robbed  the  bank 
in  which  he  was  employed  of  large  sums  of  money,  and 
that  she  had  secured  his  immunity  from  prosecution  and 


224  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

exposure  by  obligating  herself  to  make  good  all  the  losses 
sustained  through  his  crimes.  Having  ascertained  the 
aggregate  of  the  notes  she  had  given,  and  been  instructed 
to  confer  only  with  Cashier  Lumer  himself,  and  to  obtain 
from  him,  in  addition  to  her  notes,  documentary  evidence 
of  the  satisfaction  of  all  claims  against  her  husband,  I 
took  fifteen  United  States  bonds,  calling  for  one  thou- 
sand dollars  each,  and  proceeded  to  the  Progressive 
Bank.  My  business  with  Cashier  Lumer  was  soon  de- 
spatched. He  received  the  bonds  and  made  out  the 
desired  certificate  and  delivered  it  to  me,  with  Mrs. 
Erdby's  notes  and  a  small  amount  of  currency.  I  then 
returned  to  Mrs.  Erdby.  We  were  sitting  in  her  parlor, 
with  the  certificate  and  notes  which  I  had  brought,  and 
Mrs.  Erdby's  bank-book  and  a  package  of  cancelled 
checks  on  the  Bank  of  Parcelton  lying  on  the  table  near 
us,  when  Charles  J.  Erdby  entered  the  room.  He  saluted 
me  with  a  scowl,  barely  uttering  my  name,  and  stepped 
quickly  to  the  table  on  which  he  saw  the  papers  lying. 
He  first  examined  the  checks,  and  then  said  to  his  wife, 
angrily  : 

"  '  You  seem  to  have  been  very  flush.  If  you  had  let 
me  have  this  money  that  you  have  been  squandering  on 
these  people,  I  could  have  retrieved  my  losses,  and  this 
thing  would  not  have  happened." 

"  '  Perhaps  not,'  she  answered,  very  calmly. 

"  '  How  much  money  have  you  got  in  the  bank  now  ? ' 
he  asked. 

"  '  Very  little,'  was  the  reply.  '  I  gave  Mr.  Lumer  a 
check  for  $3,500  last  night.' 

"  'Well,  I  have  got  to  get  out  of  here,'  he  said,  fiercely ; 
'  do  you  want  me  to  starve  ?  ' 

"  '  I  am  not  conscious  of  such  a  desire,'  she  answered. 


THE    BLUE    PACKAGE.  225 

'  I  will  divide  with  you  the  little  I  have  left.  I  have  two 
thousand-dollar  bonds  out  of  the  seventeen  which  Mr. 
Crasburg  brought  ;  and  here  is  one  of  them.' 

"  He  grasped  the  paper  eagerly  and  asked  : 

" '  What  are  you  going  to  do  with  the  other  one  ? 

"  '  Charley  and  I  will  need  some  means  of  support  till  I 
can  find  a  way  to  earn  something/  she  answered. 

"  Mr.  Erdby  examined  the  papers  on  the  table  in  silence 
for  some  moments,  and  then  put  them  all  in  the  breast 
pocket  of  his  coat,  together  with  the  bank  book  and 
package  of  checks. 

" '  You  have  no  right  to  those  papers,  Mr.  Erdby,'  I 
said. 

"  '  What  business  have  you  to  meddle  with  my  affairs  ?' 
he  shouted.  '  Your  presence  in  my  house  is  not  ac- 
ceptable.' 

" '  Good-bye,  Mr.  Crasburg,'  said  Mrs.  Erdby,  rising 
and  extending  her  hand  to  me.  '  Give  my  love  to  your 
mother,  and  tell  her  I  expect  to  see  her  in  a  few  days.' 
Then  she  added,  in  a  firm,  distinct  tone,  with  measured 
accents  :  '  If  any  thing  serious  should  happen  to  me 
you  would  be  released  from  your  pledge  of  secrecy.' 

"  I  could  see  that  the  man  cowered  at  these  words  ;  but 
I  left  the  house  in  an  agitation  which  it  was  hard  for  me 
to  control.  Erdby  appeared  to  me  to  be  in  so  desperate 
a  mood  that  I  could  not  divest  myself  of  apprehen- 
sions for  the  safety  of  his  wife.  Happening  to  meet 
a  man  whom  I  knew  as  a  skilful  detective,  from  his 
having  been  employed  in  that  capacity  in  my  part 
of  the  State,  I  engaged  him  to  watch  the  movements 
of  Erdby  and  report  to  me  at  my  hotel.  He  came 
in  about  midnight  .and  reported  that  soon  after  my 
departure  Erdby  had  sent  for  a  hack  and  gone  with 


226  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

his  trunk  to  an  obscure  hotel  near  the  Albany  der. 
that  he  had  spent  some  time  there  in  writing,  and  then 
had  taken  a  package  of  papers  to  an  office  in  Court 
Street.  Other  movements,  which  it  is  not  necessary  to 
mention,  were  observed.  My  informant  saw  Erdby  buy 
two  tickets  for  Chicago  and  engage  a  section  in  the 
Chicago  sleeper,  and,  finally,  saw  him  depart  on  the 
eleven  o'clock  train,  accompanied  by  a  dissolute  young 
woman  well  known  as  '  Madge  Pitley.'  The  detective 
learned,  also,  that  Erdby  had  realized  several  hundred 
dollars  from  the  sale  of  the  furniture  in  his  house.  There 
was  no  way  of  ascertaining  how  large  or  how  small  a 
part  of  the  stolen  money  had  actually  been  lost  by 
Erdby. 

"  The  next  morning  I  sent  a  messenger  to  Mrs.  Erdby 
with  a  note  in  which  I  stated  the  facts  as  they  had  been 
reported  to  me,  and  placed  my  services  at  her  command. 
I  thought  it  well  for  her  to  be  fortified  by  indignation. 
She  replied,  with  thanks,  that  she  should  need  no  assist- 
ance, and  that  she  expected  to  meet  me  soon  at  Parcelton. 

"  EDWARD  CRASBURG." 

In  the  affidavit  attached,  Mr.  Crasburg  was  careful  to 
say  that  the  report  of  conversation,  embodied  in  his 
statement,  was  according  to  his  recollection. 

Such  were  the  contents  of  the  Blue  Package.  The 
fact  of  its  being  ordered  into  the  possession  of  Mr. 
Jorman  was  sufficient  evidence  of  his  having  prospered 
in  his  suit.  I  should  have  anticipated  that  result  in  any 
event.  It  had  been  settled  in  my  mind  for  some  months 
that  the  union  of  Mr.  Jorman  and  Mrs.  Erdby  would 
come  about  in  due  time.  It  was  obvious,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  their  acquaintance,  that  they  felt  a  peculiar 
interest  in  each  other  ;  and  I  had  seen  it  abundantly 


THE    BLUE    PACKAGE.  227 

that  each  of  them  was  steadily  gaining  a  larger 
and  larger  place  in  the  thoughts  of  the  other.  I  soon 
received  the  following  letter  : 

"  MY  DEAR  BROTHER  NOLLY  : — If  you  have  tears  to 
shed  prepare, — not  to  shed  them.  I  have  been  down  in 
the  depths  and  up  on  the  heights ;  and  I  am  now  at  ex- 
actly the  right  elevation.  It  is  '  all  serene/  as  the  boys 
say.  While  I  was  riding  to  Boston  my  firmament  got 
badly  overclouded.  The  instances  in  which  I  had  made 
an  ass  of  myself  in  Serena's  presence  came  along  in  a 
procession  which  threatened  to  '  stretch  out  to  the  crack 
of  doom.'  Oh  !  how  unspeakably  silly  I  saw  a  hundred 
or  two  of  my  speeches  to  have  been.  Well,  I  got  my 
dinner  at  the  Revere  and  then  went  to  my  room  and 
tried  to  invent  an  impressive  mode  of  'popping  the  ques- 
tion '  ;  but  I  met  with  such  a  '  plentiful  lack '  of  success, 
that  I  concluded  to  trust  to  what  is  called  the  '  inspira- 
tion of  the  moment.'  I  looked  in  the  glass  and  won- 
dered that  I  had  never  before  been  fully  aware  of  my 
own  homeliness.  '  A  regular  ogre ! '  I  said.  But  I 
braced  myself  up  and  took  a  carriage  for  Serena's  resi- 
dence. I  told  the  driver  to  wait,  whether  I  was  in  the 
house  five  minutes  or  five  hours.  It  seemed  to  me  proba- 
ble that  there  would  need  to  be  some  hauling  done  in 
my  case.  I  found  Serena  at  home,  and  her  reception  of 
me  was  cordial  enough,  though  she  was  a  little  startled 
and  somewhat  embarrassed  when  I  presented  myself.  I 
plunged  '  in  medias  res '  in  less  than  a  minute.  I  can't 
recall  what  I  blurted  out,  except  that  I  began  by  saying  : 

'  You  are  surprised  to  see  me  here  Sere 1  mean,  Mrs. 

Erdby.'  When  I  got  through,  there  was  a  queer  light  in 
her  eyes,  and  such  a  smile  as  I  had  never  seen  before  on 
her  lips,  but  she  did  n't  say  any  thing.  It  came  into  my 


228  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

head  that  she  saw  something  ridiculous  in  my  pro- 
posal. 'I  see  that  I  am  rejected'  I  said,  'and  I  must 
bear  it  as  well  as  I  can.  I  hope  God  will  bless  you. 
Good-bye.' 

" '  Stop,  Mr.  Jorman,'  she  said,  coming  up  to  me  and 
laying  her  hand  on  my  arm.  '  Of  course  you  are  not 
rejected.  You  misunderstood  me.  I  was  only  smiling 
to  think  that  such  a  reader  of  hearts  as  you  are  should 
be  so  ignorant  of  the  state  of  my  feelings.  The  union 
which  you  propose  will  be  quite  as  acceptable  to  me  as 
to  you.  My  affections  have  been  trying  to  go  out  to  you 
a  long  time,  and  there  is  quite  a  luxury  in  '  turning  them 
loose,'  as  I  once  heard  you  say. 

"  She  gave  that  little  semi-audible  laugh,  and  I  awoke 
all  at  once  to  the  reality  of  my  blessedness.  I  threw  out 
my  arms  and None  of  your  grinning,  you  rascal  ! 

"  But  the  best  was  still  to  come.  We  sat  on  the  sofa, 
and  I  held  her  hand  in  mine  as  I  told  her  that  story, 
which  I  wrote  to  you,  about  the  purchase  of  the  Greek 
Testament,  and  its  sequences.  Oh  !  I  wish  you  could 
get  some  idea  of  the  depth  of  that  happiness  which  shone 
out  in  my  darling's  face.  It  seemed  to  me  that  some 
sweet  influence  from  heaven  was  around  us. 

"  I  hope  I  shall  learn  that  you  have  arranged  to  go 
South  pretty  early.  Serena  agrees  with  me  on  the  im- 
perative necessity  of  your  being  at  our  wedding,  with 
your  mother  and  Dolly.  Your  Brother, 

"  RALPH  JORMAN."     • 

A  week  later  my  friend  wrote  me  as  follows,  dating  his 
letter  at  Boston  : 

"  DEAR  BROTHER  NOLLY  : — I  could  n't  take  time  to 
write  you  immediately  after  reading  the  papers  delivered 
to  me  by  your  mother.  I  had  to  come  here  at  once. 


THE    BLUE    PACKAGE.  229 

Your  mother  arranged  an  interview,  by  telegraph,  and 
came  to  Tenth  Street  with  Dolly  the  next  morning. 

" '  I  could  not  deny  myself  the  pleasure  of  coming  to 
congratulate  you  in  person  on  your  engagement,'  she 
said. 

"  '  My  engagement  ! '  I  exclaimed.  '  How  can  you 
know  any  thing  about  that  ?  ' 

" '  I  know,'  she  answered,  '  that  the  Blue  Package 
would  not  have  been  ordered  into  your  hands  if  you  had 
not  become  engaged  to  Mrs.  Erdby.' 

"  'What  under  the  sun  is  the  Blue  Package  ?'  I  asked. 
But  then  I  added  :  '  I  will  not  give  you  time  to  answer 
my  question  before  I  assure  you  that  your  conclusion  is 
correct.  Serena  is  going  to  be  my  wife,  and  I  am  the 
happiest  man  in  the  world.' 

"  '  I  was  certain  of  it,'  was  the  response,  '  and  I  do  con- 
gratulate you  with  all  my  heart.  Dolly  and  I  have  been 
rejoicing  every  minute  since  the  telegram  came  from 
George.  This  blessing,  coming  on  top  of  the  certainty 
of  George's  success  at  Mackopah,  makes  me  feel  that 
this  is  a  very  charming  world.' 

"  Well,  Nolly,  if  this  world  is  not  altogether  charming, 
it  is  because  it  contains  so  few  such  women  as  your 
mother  and  Serena,  and  such  girls  as  Martha  and  Dolly 
and  Miss  Loyalty.  You  will  not  expect  me  to  tell  you 
by  letter  a  thousandth  part  of  what  the  contents  of  those 
papers  made  me  think  and  feel.  I  lived  over  again  with 
my  darling  that  period  of  fearful  trial  and  those  years  of 
silent  heroism,  when  she  was  enduring  obloquy  and  sus- 
picion, in  preference  to  disclosing  the  guilt  of  one  whom 
she  had  once  loved.  She  had  been  fully  aware  that  the 
fact  of  her  being  ignored  by  her  husband's  family  had 
attracted  the  notice  of  all  their  acquaintances,  and  that 


230  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

the  existence  of  a  sufficient  reason  for  such  treatment 
had  been  taken  for  granted.  When  I  asked  her  within 
what  limits  a  knowledge  of  the  actual  facts  was  to  be  re- 
stricted in  future,  she  said  that  the  matter  had  passed 
entirely  into  my  hands.  '  My  reputation  no  longer  con- 
cerns me  alone/  she  said.  '  Any  cloud  that  hangs  over 
me  will  necessarily  cast  its  shadow  upon  you  ;  and  you 
know  that  I  want  nothing  but  sunlight  falling  on  your 
head.' 

"  We  both  saw  it  to  be  proper  for  me  to  lay  the  papers 
before  Bob  Dilmore.  '  Great  conscience  ! '  he  exclaimed 
as  he  finished  the  reading,  '  this  is  the  most  astonishing 
case  I  ever  heard  of.  I  was  sure  that  I  could  get  a  ver- 
dict of  "  guilty  "  on  such  evidence  as  Melton  presented, 
without  having  the  jurymen  leave  their  seats.'  He  in- 
sisted on  taking  the  papers  to  Melton's  office  at  once, 
asking  me  to  wait  till  he  returned.  He  came  back  in 
about  an  hour,  and  Melton  accompanied  him.  I  found 
this  gentleman  quite  sensible  and  essentially  right- 
spirited.  '  The  only  proper  way  is  the  just  way,'  he 
said.  '  The  blameworthy  and  the  praiseworthy,  alike, 
should  receive  their  deserts  as  far  as  that  is  possible  in 
such  a  world  as  this.  When  the  mother  and  sisters  of 
Charles  come  to  find  out  what  a  villain  he  got  to  be,  they 
will  feel  it  keenly  ;  but  that  is  better  than  that  they 
should  continue  to  do  injustice  to  Julia.  Besides,  they 
will  find  great  compensation  in  the  interest  which  they 
will  soon  take  in  the  young  Charles.  He  is  the  only 
male  Erdby  in  the  whole  circle  of  relatives  now.  Do 
you  think  Julia  would  be  willing  to  have  Mrs.  Melton 
and  myself  call  upon  her,  Mr.  Jorman  ?  ' 

"  '  Unquestionably,'  I  answered.  '  She  has  never  cher- 
ished a  particle  of  resentment  toward  any  of  you.  She 


THE    BLUE    PACKAGE.  231 

has  not  been  aware  of  the  precise  nature  of  your  theory 
concerning  her,  but  has  had  no  doubt  that  Erdby  made 
use  of  the  notes  and  checks  for  the  purpose  of  mislead- 
ing you.' 

"  '  Will  you  entrust  me  with  these  papers  for  a  few 
days  ? '  Melton  asked. 

"  '  Certainly,'  I  said.  '  But  I  suggest  that  you  make 
their  contents  known  no  further  than  justice  may  seem 
to  require.  The  members  of  the  family  can  explain  the 
renewal  of  their  relations  with  Serena — with  Mrs.  Erdby, 
by  simply  saying  that  they  had  been  mistaken  in  regard 
to  her.  There  is  no  occasion  for  any  public  talk.' 

"  There  the  matter  rests  for  the  present.  I  have  bought 
off  a  tenant  who  was  living  in  a  big  old  house  of  mine 
on  34th  Street — the  house  I  was  born  in, — and  it  is  full 
of  workmen  now.  Serena  is  going  down  in  a  few  days 
to  issue  her  fiat  for  the  decorative  work,  and  to  decide  on 
styles  of  furniture.  Sha'n't  we  have  a  great  time  when 
we  get  settled  down  there  ? 

"  Let  me  know  when  you  expect  to  get  home,  and 
how  soon  you  will  to  go  South. 

"  Your  Brother, 

"  RALPH  JORMAN." 


CHAPTER  XI. 

ANOTHER    WINTER. 

"DEFORE  the  pleasure  yielded  by  success  can  be 
••-^  raised  to  its  culminating  point,  the  successful  man 
must  come  face  to  face  with  the  person  whose  love  for 
him  is  most  ardent.  I  learned  this  lesson  when  I  found 
myself  in  my  mother's  presence  on  my  return  from 
Mackopah.  I  had  enjoyed  a  profound  satisfaction  in  view 
of  results  which  had  far  transcended  my  most  sanguine 
expectations.  At  times  my  feeling  had  amounted  to  ex- 
ultation. But  it  was  not  until  my  mother  had  her  arm 
around  my  neck  and  laid  her  head  on  my  shoulder, 
weeping  for  joy,  that  my  capacity  for  such  happiness  as 
can  come  of  successful  achievement  was  fully  measured. 
Mr.  Jorman  afterwards  told  me  that  two  of  the  deepest 
original  springs  of  pleasure  in  my  nature — susceptibility 
to  perception  of  sympathy,  and  susceptibility  to  percep- 
tion of  happiness — were  then  made  to  flow  profusely. 
He  said  the  power  of  these  susceptibilities  to  yield  en- 
joyment was  at  its  height  when  the  sympathy  and  happi- 
ness perceived  were  experienced  by  the  persons  most 
dear  to  us.  When  I  told  him  that  my  mother's  first 
words  were,  "  Oh  !  how  good  the  Lord  has  been  to  us," 
he  responded,  "  That  was  the  cap-sheaf.  As  you  had 
been  fitted  to  take  in  that  sentiment,  you  and  your 
mother  rose  together  on  a  billow  of  gratitude  that  carried 
you  a  great  ways  toward  heaven." 

232 


ANOTHER    WINTER.  233 

I  found  that  Dolly  was  not  far  behind  us  in  apprecia- 
tion of  the  change  which  had  taken  place  in  my  circum- 
stances. The  pace  at  which  the  precious  girl  had 
matured  during  my  absence  at  the  West  caused  me  some 
astonishment  at  first.  She  was  still  light-hearted  ;  but 
the  vivacious  skipping  of  her  thoughts  from  one  bright 
possibility  to  another  had  been  exchanged,  in  a  great 
measure,  for  womanly  reflection.  She  had  been  emer- 
ging into  full  companionship  with  her  mother  very  rapidly, 
and  neither  of  them  seemed  to  have  her  mind  much 
occupied  with  any  subject  which  was  not  freely  can- 
vassed between  them.  Dolly's  approach  to  womanhood 
was  marked  most  plainly  by  a  disposition  to  dwell  on 
prospective  difficulties.  This  was  illustrated  in  her  say- 
ing to  me  :  "  I  don't  see  how  you  can  expect  to  find  that 
Martha  cares  any  thing  for  you.  She  would  n't  let  her- 
self care  for  you  a  single  bit,  of  course,  unless  she  thought 
you  cared  for  her  a  great  deal.  And  here  you  have  n't 
been  near  her  nor  written  a  single  word  to  her  for  ever 
so  many  months  and  months.  She  knows  you  stopped 
within  a  few  miles  of  her  when  you  were  coming  home 
from  Florida.  I  should  think  she  would  cut  your  name 
out  of  her  book  and  throw  it  away,  and  let  somebody 
that  could  n't  keep  away  from  her  take  up  her  thoughts." 

I  confess  that  this  speech  of  Dolly's  gave  me  some  un- 
easiness, and  tended  quite  strongly  to  quicken  the  fear 
which  had  occasionally  crept  in  among  my  hopes.  But 
my  mother's  words  were  more  reassuring.  "  Mr.  Jor- 
man,"  she  said,  "  has  talked  over  with  me,  several  times, 
all  his  reasons  for  thinking  Miss  Orlington  is  very  much 
interested  in  you  ;  and,  most  of  the  time,  it  seems  to  me 
that  they  settle  the  matter.  He  says  she  has  a  very  deep 
nature  ;  and,  if  that  is  the  case,  any  interest  she  has  felt 


234  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

in  you  is  n't  going  to  pass  away  very  soon.  If  she  has 
ever  cared  for  you  very  much  you  need  n't  be  afraid  of 
her  listening  to  anybody  else.  I  should  n't  wonder  if 
you  should  find  out  that  she  has  had  a  pretty  correct 
view  of  the  way  your  mind  has  been  working,  and  of  the 
reasons  why  you  have  kept  silent.  Mr.  Jorman  says  she 
is  unusually  intelligent.  There  is  another  thing.  I 
did  n't  think  I  should  tell  you  of  it,  but  I  can't  see  how 
there  can  be  any  harm  in  your  knowing  it.  I  have  got 
in  the  habit  of  praying  that  the  Holy  Spirit  may  so  work 
on  Miss  Orlington's  mind  that  your  union  with  her  may 
be  possible,  and  that  you  may  cheer  and  strengthen  one 
another  in  the  Lord's  service.  Perhaps  it  is  not  right. 
I  have  been  afraid  there  was  too  much  worldliness  and 
mere  natural  affection  in  the  petition.  But  somehow  I 
can't  help  praying  in  that  way  ;  and  it  has  seemed  to 
me  more  and  more  certain  lately  that  the  prayer  is 
answered." 

I  must  make  room  here  for  one  more  of  my  dear 
mother's  remarks.  As  I  finished  the  examination  and 
filing  of  a  collection  of  papers  which  had  accumulated 
in  my  desk,  she  came  and  leaned  upon  my  knee,  and  I 
saw  that  she  was  deeply  moved.  "  I  have  been  thinking 
about  your  father,"  she  said,  "  and  of  how  strange  every 
thing  is.  He  did  n't  leave  you  any  property  ;  but  you 
can  trace  your  having  a  fortune  now  right  back  to  him. 
I  remember  that  when  Edward  Sekell  related  his  experi- 
ence he  told  of  a  sermon  your  father  had  preached  and 
of  a  conversation  they  had  had  together  afterwards,  and 
said  the  sermon  and  the  conversation  were  the  means  of 
his  conversion.  You  see  it  was  your  father's  faithfulness 
and  wisdom  which  caused  Edward  always  to  take  such 
an  interest  in  us,  and  led  to  his  showing  you  where  you 


ANOTHER    WINTER.  235 

could  make  your  fortune.  Besides,  if  Edward  had  not 
been  converted,  it  is  not  certain,  by  any  means,  that  he 
would  have  had  such  a  character  that  what  he  had  said 
and  done  would  have  gone  so  far  with  Mr.  Mollison.  Oh, 
no  one  can  tell  how  it  adds  to  my  happiness  when  I  see 
how  much  your  father  had  to  do  with  your  getting  to  be 
so  well  off." 

I  found  Mr.  Jorman  at  his  office  in  Tenth  Street ;  and 
he  could  not  content  himself,  as  formerly,  with  a  hearty 
hand-shake.  He  had  to  give  me  a  hugging  which  put 
my  shoulder-blades  in  some  danger.  "  Well,"  he  said 
pushing  me  off  and  surveying  me  with  boyish  delight, 
"  I  don't  see  that  prosperity  has  transformed  you  to  any 
surprising  extent." 

"  We  shall  have  to  rely  upon  something  else  then,"  I 
said,  "  to  work  out  changes  in  me.  It  is  quite  certain 
that  I  need  a  good  deal  of  transforming." 

"  I  don't  think  I  want  to  see  any  great  alterations  in 
your  general  outlines.  I  could  suggest  some  improve- 
ments in  your  internal  equipment.  Some  of  your  springs 
need  stiffening,  and  several  of  your  pop-guns  are  a  little 
too  quick  on  the  trigger.  But  I  should  n't  be  in  favor  of 
breaking  you  up  and  selling  you  for  old  material,  as  they 
are  doing  with  some  of  the  ships  in  the  navy  yard 
according  to  the  morning  papers." 

After  rattling  on  in  that  way  a  few  minutes,  Jorman 
took  me  to  the  side  of  a  long  table,  which  stood  opposite 
a  window.  "Here,"  he  said,  "is  where  I  sit  when  I  am 
making  up  my  mind  what  I  '11  do.  Now  look  up  there." 

My  eyes  followed  the  indication  of  his  finger,  and  I 
saw  at  the  top  of  a  book-case,  in  large  Greek  characters, 
— gilt  letters  on  a  dark  ground — "  Ouk  diakonethenai, 
alia  diakonesai." 


236  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

"  Not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,"  I  trans- 
lated, and  then  said  :  "  You  think  you  can  stick  to  that, 
do  you  ?  " 

"  I  have  started  out  on  that  track,"  he  answered,  "and 
it  don't  seem  to  me  possible  that  I  shall  ever  leave  it  de- 
liberately. Of  course  I  shall  slip  and  sprawl  around  a 
great  deal  ;  and  I  am  afraid  I  shall  tumble  heels  over 
head  occasionally  and  find  hard  work  to  get  back.  I 
have  selfishness  enough  to  load  down  the  Great  Eastern ; 
and  I  have  lived  so  many  years  under  the  impression 
that  the  universe  was  created  for  my  entertainment,  that 
you  might  as  well  expect  a  fellow  to  become  a  Blondin 
without  practicing,  as  to  anticipate  my  being  found 
trudging  straight  along  on  my  track  every  time  I  am 
looked  at.  But  I  shall  get  the  right  step  by  degrees  ; 
and  Serena  will  help  me  prodigiously." 

"  Have  you  settled  on  any  particular  ways  of  minister- 
ing ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Well,  I  have  been  looking  over  the  ground  and  sur- 
veying the  conditions  of  different  classes ;  and  some 
human  needs  have  shown  themselves  to  me  in  such  start- 
ling lights  that  I  have  been  on  the  point  of  resolving  to 
pour  all  my  energies  into  this  channel  of  beneficence  or 
that.  But  I  see  that  such  a  course  won't  do  for  me, 
however  plainly  others  may  be  called  to  it.  I  am  not 
going  to  become  wild-eyed  about  any  thing,  or  permit 
myself  to  fall  under  the  delusion  that  the  cure  of  any 
one  evil  is  all  the  human  race  has  need  of.  To  be  al- 
ways learning  from  the  Master  is  the  fundamental  thing. 
That  is,  LEARNING  as  an  apprentice  learns  a  trade.  His 
disposition  to  minister  was  displayed  wherever  He  went, 
and  in  ways  as  numerous  as  His  opportunities  were 
various." 


ANOTHER    WINTER.  237 

"  Have  your  habits  in  reading  and  philosophizing  un- 
dergone any  change  ?  " 

"  So  far  as  reading  is  concerned,  there  is  no  haphazard 
work  about  it  now,  except  when  I  feel  the  need  of  relax- 
ation. I  am  aiming  at  growth  in  wisdom, — at  the 
enlargement  of  my  capacity  for  the  apprehension  of 
truth.  If  I  am  going  to  intermeddle  with  things,  it  is 
my  business  to  find  out  what  they  are  and  what  their 
relations  are.  I  see  no  occasion  for  putting  any  restric- 
tion on  my  proclivity  to  psychological  research.  The 
spiritual  man,  so  '  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made/  is 
the  one  incomparable  object  of  man's  beneficence  ;  and 
the  more  we  know  about  this  object  the  better  equipped 
we  shall  be  for  dealing  with  it.  But  my  observations 
and  analytical  efforts  are  no  longer  carried  on  for  mere 
amusement.  I  am  trying  to  form  the  habit  of  asking, 
'  What  is  the  specific  corrective  adapted  to  this  case  ? ' 
whenever  perverse  mental  activities  fall  under  my  notice." 

It  was  necessary  for  me  to  call  Mr.  Jorman's  thoughts 
away  from  this  subject  to  matters  of  business,  though  I 
did  it  reluctantly.  I  had  made  out  the  account  between 
us  in  full,  and  endorsed  over  to  him  the  drafts  by  which 
I  proposed  to  return  him  the  capital  he  had  advanced, 
and  to  pay  him  half  the  profits  which  had  been  realized. 
When  he  saw  the  amount  which  he  was  to  receive  he 
expressed  some  astonishment.  "  Your  letters,"  he  said, 
"  had  prepared  me  to  expect  a  pretty  liberal  profit  ;  but 
I  did  n't  look  for  any  thing  like  this.  My  first  and  only 
experiment  in  deliberate  money-making  has  turned  out 
rather  overwhelmingly.  Why,  I  have  considerably  more 
than  doubled  the  capital  in  less  than  a  year." 

"  But  you  must  remember,"  I  said,  "  that  we  have  only 
made  a  few  little  breaks  in  our  investment,  in  order  to 


238  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

draw  this  money  out.  We  still  own  by  far  the  greater 
part  of  the  land  that  we  bought.  I  have  not  attempted 
to  estimate  what  we  shall  realize  hereafter.  That  will 
depend  on  what  may  take  place  to  help  or  hinder  the 
growth  of  Mackopah.  But  I  expect  enough  from  that 
source  to  put  me  at  ease  for  life." 

"What  !  money  to  come  and  come,  and  keep  coming, 
year  after  year  !  " 

"  That  is  the  present  prospect." 

Mr.  Jorman  fell  into  profound  meditation.  "  I  am 
heartily  glad  of  this  on  your  account,  Nolly,"  he  said  at 
length,  "  and  I  guess  it  will  turn  out  for  good  in  the 
general  order  of  things.  As  far  as  I  can  see  it  is  best 
for  the  world  that  you  should  be  in  a  position  to  use 
your  powers  freely,  without  being  hampered  much  by  the 
question  of  bread  and  butter.  So  far  as  I  am  concerned 
this  thing  brings  an  addition  to  my  responsibilities  which 
I  can't  make  seem  agreeable  to  me  just  yet.  I  have  got 
it  settled  in  my  mind  that  my  annual  surplus  must  be 
made  to  yield  all  it  can  to  the  general  sum  of  benefi- 
cence ;  and  that  will  require  a  great  deal  of  hard  think- 
ing. If  you  had  brought  me  this  report  before  the 
change  in  my  attitude  toward  the  universe,  I  should  have 
urged  you  very  strongly  to  accept  a  deed  of  my  interest 
in  the  unsold  lands  at  Mackopah.  I  should  have  argued 
that  such  a  settlement  between  us  would  be  simply  just, 
inasmuch  as  the  property  has  been  acquired  through 
your  knowledge-compelling  and  energy,  by  the  side  of 
which  the  little  capital  advanced  by  me  is  hardly  worth 
mentioning.  But  I  see  now  that  the  property  has  come 
into  my  hands  through  a  legitimate  transaction,  and  that 
you  are  in  no  sense  a  fit  object  for  charitable  donations  ; 
and  I  feel  no  warrant  for  transferring  to  you  my  share  of 


ANOTHER    WINTER.  239 

the  responsibilities  of  trusteeship.  An  additional  burden 
is  laid  on  Serena  and  me,  and  we  have  got  to  carry  it. 
That  is  all  there  is  about  it." 

It  was  at  that  time  that  I  suggested  our  giving  Edward 
Sekell  a  power  of  attorney,  a  measure  which  was  carried 
out  immediately.  As  I  met  Mr.  Jorman  from  day  to 
day,  my  attachment  to  him  was  greatly  intensified.  It 
is  not  probable  that  any  change  in  his  appearance  was 
remarked  by  casual  acquaintances.  He  displayed  his 
old  heartiness  and  geniality  on  all  occasions.  But  I 
could  see  a  deeper  meaning  in  his  eyes,  and  abundant 
evidences  of  an  added  strenuousness  in  his  inner  life.  I 
saw  that  he  was  much  more  likely  than  he  had  formerly 
been  to  give  those  with  whom  he  might  be  brought  in 
contact  the  impression  of  being  in  the  presence  of  an 
unusually  able  man. 

My  preparations  for  going  South  were  pushed  as 
rapidly  as  possible,  and  arrangements  for  the  marriage  of 
my  friends  had  to  be  hastened  accordingly.  My  mother 
and  Dolly  expressed  a  desire  to  see  all  they  could  of 
"  Serena,"  as  they  constantly  called  her  ;  and  we  broke 
up  our  home  in  Elizabeth,  got  through,  as  others  must 
get  through,  with  the  long  farewells,  shipped  our  furni- 
ture, and  went  to  Boston,  three  days  before  the  wedding, 
taking  up  our  quarters  at  the  Revere.  We  found  that 
Miss  Evalstone  and  Miss  Kitty  had  already  taken  a  room 
there.  Jorman  told  us  that  Erdby's  mother  and  sisters, 
after  the  first  gush  of  their  grief  was  past,  had  taken  his 
Serena  to  their  hearts  far  more  fully  than  they  had  done 
in  the  early  years  of  their  relationship.  He  said  they 
were  self-convicted  of  having  done  her  great  injustice, 
and  that  a  sincere  disposition  to  make  amends  for  past 
ill-treatment  is  sure  to  pass  over  into  warm  affection,  un- 


240  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

less  unlovable  characteristics  stand  too  much  in  the  way. 
He  pointed  out  the  "  springs  of  force  "  in  our  constitu- 
tion, by  which  he  held  that  such  a  result  was  necessitated. 
Finally,  he  called  attention  to  the  natural  gratitude  of 
these  ladies  for  "  Serena's  heroic  silence  in  regard  to 
Charles  Erdby's  guilt."  As  a  result  of  these  things,  old 
Mrs.  Erdby  had  insisted  that  her  daughter-in-law  should 
be  married  from  her  house  ;  the  furnished  cottage  of  the 
latter  had  been  rented,  and  Miss  Evalstone  and  Miss 
Kitty  had  come  to  the  Revere. 

Jorman  soon  brought  his  betrothed  to  see  us  ;  and  my 
mother  said,  when  they  had  gone,  that  it  was  not  possible 
for  a  pair  of  young  lovers  to  be  as  happy  as  they  were, 
because  young  persons  could  not  sufficiently  compre- 
hend the  greatness  of  the  blessing  vouchsafed  to  them  in 
their  reciprocal  affection.  Besides,  she  was  certain,  from 
her  own  experience,  that  capacity  for  love  was  continually 
growing  as  one  advanced  in  years.  My  mother  and 
Dolly  had  several  long  interviews  with  Mrs.  Erdby  ;  and 
the  general  result  on  their  side  was  indicated  in  my 
mother's  saying  :  "  I  don't  see  why  Providence  should 
have  been  so  kind  to  us  as  to  let  us  become  intimately 
acquainted  with  such  a  woman."  On  the  other  side, 
Jorman  quoted  his  darling  as  saying  :  "  I  always 
thought  your  Nolly's  mother  must  be  a  very  superior 
lady.  But  I  was  not  prepared  to  find  a  person  of  such 
enlightened  views  combined  with  such  richness  of  heart. 
And  Dolly  is  going  to  be  one  of  the  sweetest  creatures 
in  the  world.  I  wish  I  could  have  her  sunny  face  shin- 
ing on  me  every  day."  When  Dolly  and  Kitty  had  made 
some  progress  in  getting  acquainted,  the  latter  said  : 

"  I  suppose  your  brother  has  told  you  what  an  awfully 
bad-tempered  little  cat  I  am." 


ANOTHER    WINTER.  241 

Dolly  answered  :  "  He  has  told  us  that  you  have 
a  bigger  heart  than  almost  anybody  else  in  the  world. 
He  says  you  deserve  the  name  that  Mr.  Jorman  has 
given  you.  May  n't  I  always  call  you  '  Miss  Loyalty  '  ? 
Mother  and  I  never  think  of  giving  you  any  other  name 
when  we  are  talking  about  you." 

"I  did  n't  suppose  that  anybody  ever  talked  about  me, 
unless  they  happened  to  remember  how  hateful  I  had 
been,  or  how  like  a  fright  I  look.  But  if  you  think  you 
can  love  me  a  little  you  may  call  me  '  Miss  Loyalty.' 
I  '11  tell  you  something  if  you  won't  say  any  thing  about 
it  :  when  I  am  off  by  myself  I  am  awfully  proud  of  Mr. 
Jorman's  giving  me  that  name.  Now  that  's  a  secret, 
you  know,  that  I  never  told  to  anybody  before — that  is, 
I  don't  call  Orrin  anybody." 

"  Are  you  going  to  marry  Orrin  ?  " 

"  Why,  what  a  question  !  Well,  you  dear  rosy-cheeked 
duck,  I  believe  you  have  a  right  to  know  all  my  secrets, 
because  you  are  so  handsome.  Orrin  says  I  've  got  to 
marry  him,  and  I  have  promised  that  I  will.  We  never 
knew  what  it  was  not  to  love  one  another.  But  if  he 
should  get  off  the  notion,  I  should  tell  him  to  go  along 
about  his  business." 

"  What  if  he  should  go  along  and  marry  somebody 
else  ?  " 

"  Well,  I  should  n't  make  any  fuss  about  it.  I  should 
only  die.  That  's  all.  There,  let  me  get  my  arm  around 
you,  and  put  my  head  on  your  shoulder — so.  I  want  to 
be  a  little  bit  of  a  baby." 

Orrin  Barleck  came  from  his  Theological  Seminary 
two  days  before  the  wedding.  His  brow  and  eyes  bore 
the  indications  of  hard  study,  and  he  was  seldom  in  a 
mirthful  frame.  Otherwise,  his  appearance  was  much 


242  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

the  same  as  when  I  first  met  him  in  Florida.  It  was 
noticeable  that,  when  he  and  Kitty  were  both  in  the  par- 
lor which  I  had  engaged,  he  was  quite  restless  until  he 
could  manage  to  be  seated  near  her  ;  and  I  thought  I 
could  see  an  expression  of  contentment  coming  over  his 
face  whenever  such  proximity  had  been  secured.  On 
one  of  the  walks  which  he  and  I  took  together,  he  gave 
me  an  account  of  his  wooing.  He  had  no  doubt  of 
Kitty's  warm  affection  for  him,  but  feared  it  was  not  of 
such  a  nature  as  he  desired, — feared  it  would  turn  out 
that  she  could  love  him  only  as  a  sister  loves  a  brother. 
The  time  came  when  he  could  endure  his  doubts  no 
longer.  He  arranged  with  Mrs.  Erdby  to  bring  about  a 
favorable  opportunity,  and  then  he  revealed  to  the  little 
maiden  the  state  of  his  mind,  winding  up  with  the  ques- 
tion : 

"  Do  you  think  you  can  love  me,  Kitty  ? " 

"Why,  what  a- foolish  question,"  she  answered. 

"  Why  is  it  a  foolish  question  ? " 

"  It  's  the  silliest  question  I  ever  heard.  You  Ve 
known  for  more  than  a  hundred  years  that  I  could  n't 
help  it  if  I  tried." 

"  Known  that  you  could  help  what  ?  " 

"  Oh,  you  have  to  ask,  ( Could  n't  help  what  ? '  Why, 
feeling  that  way  you  talked  about,  goosey." 

Orrin  was  fain  to  content  himself  with  this  reply,  and 
attempted  to  exercise  the  privilege  of  an  accepted  lover. 
But  Kitty  eluded  him  and  flew  to  the  most  distant  corner 
of  the  room. 

"What  makes  you  act  in  that  way?"  she  exclaimed. 
"You  Ve  never  done  so  before,  since  you  were  a  little 
boy." 

"  Can't  I  have  a  kiss  to  seal  our  engagement  ?  " 


ANOTHER    WINTER.  243, 

"Who  said  any  thing  about  an  engagement?" 

"Why  should  n't  we  consider  ourselves  engaged,  since 
you  acknowledge  that  you  love  me  ?  I  am  going  to  marry 
you,  you  know." 

"  I  don't  believe  you  want  to  marry  me.  I  don't  be- 
lieve anybody  does,  or  ever  will.  You  know  as  well  as 
I  do  that  I  could  n't  be  wicked  enough  to  be  married  to 
anybody  else,  after  feeling  as  I  have  towards  you  ever  since 
the  Flood.  I  've  been  expecting  to  be  a  little  old  maid  like 
Miss  Flite,  and  go  around  with  a  bag  of  papers  hanging 
on  my  arm.  What  does  any  gentleman  want  with  such  a 
wife  as  I  should  be  ?  I  ain't  bigger  than  a  ten-cent  piece, 
and  I  am  blacker  than  a  coal,  and  my  nose  looks  like 
Time  in  the  primmer,  and  I  'm  always  getting  spunky  at 
nothing  and  acting  like  a  crazy  wild-cat." 

"  That  is  an  exact  description  of  the  wife  I  have  made 
up  my  mind  to  have,"  said  Orrin,  as  Kitty's  outburst  of 
dissatisfaction  with  herself  was  concluded.  He  had 
been  stealthily  approaching  the  corner,  and  was  now 
near  enough  for  a  spring  which  brought  the  contest  to  an 
end. 

On  our  other  strolls  Orrin  talked  theology  incessantly. 
He  was  then  a  Calvinist  of  the  most  rigid  type.  He  had 
much  to  say  ahout  the  "  sovereign  will  of  God,"  and  I 
was  unable  to  see  how  his  conception  of  it  differed  from 
what  I  should  conceive  of  as  arbitrary  caprice  coupled 
with  omnipotence.  He  held  that  whatever  God  willed 
was  right,  and  right  because  He  willed  it.  He  said  that, 
if  God  had  predestined  any  number  of  men  to  eternal 
damnation,  regardless  of  their  characters,  no  being  in  the 
universe  had  a  just  ground  of  complaint  against  Him — 
that  all  were  His  creatures  and  He  had  a  right  to  appoint 
their  lots  as  He  chose.  If  I  remember  correctly,  Orrin 


244  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

called  the  atonement  which  he  believed  in  a  "  particular 
atonement."  When  I  spoke  with  Jorman  on  this  subject 
he  said  : 

"  I  have  noticed  that  it  is  quite  a  common  thing  for 
young  theological  students  to  out-Calvin  Calvin.  They 
get  hold  of  a  great  truth  and  turn  it  into  a  lie  because 
they  can't  see  it  in  its  relations  to  other  truths.  I  sup- 
pose I  might  be  called  a  Calvinist,  in  a  certain  sense. 
There  is  a  doctrine  of  divine  sovereignty,  the  doctrine 
your  father  used  to  preach,  undoubtedly,  which  coin- 
cides perfectly  with  my  philosophical  principles.  It  is  a 
sovereignty  without  which  the  moral  universe  would  be 
a  chaos.  But  when  this  doctrine  is  wrenched  from  all 
its  relations,  it  is  sure  to  yield  a  horribly  distorted  con- 
ception of  The  Sovereign.  The  boys  generally  get  up, 
after  a  while,  to  a  point  of  view  from  which  they  can 
take  in  the  most  important  of  those  relations.  But  I  am 
afraid  that  Orrin  will  always  be  riding  a  hobby  of  one 
kind  or  another.  He  has  a  good  deal  of  such  stuff  as 
fanatics  and  one-idea  men  are  made  of.  The  funda- 
mental trouble  with  such  men  is  not  any  lack  of  volume 
in  their  intellectual  power.  Most  of  them  are  well 
enough  off  on  that  score,  and  some  of  them  are  capable 
of  producing  astonishing  effects.  The  radical  derange- 
ment of  their  forces  seems  to  lie  in  an  undue  subjection 
of  their  intellectual  power  to  their  emotional  power. 
They  catch  a  view  of  some  great  truth  which  addresses 
one  or  two  of  their  keenest  susceptibilities,  and  their 
emotional  interest  glows  and  blazes  around  it,  till  all  the 
rays  of  light  at  their  command  converge  upon  it,  and 
they  fall  under  the  impression  that  no  other  truth  is 
worth  mentioning.  Then,  on  account  of  their  suscepti- 
bility to  perception  of  the  lack  of  sympathy,  they  get  mad 


ANOTHER    WINTER.  245 

at  everybody  who  fails  to  exhibit  a  similar  interest  in 
that  particular  truth,  and  away  they  go,  ripping  and  tear- 
ing. Their  primary  need  is  a  knowledge  of  this  defect 
in  their  organization.  Then  they  ought  to  have  manli- 
ness enough  and  conscientiousness  enough  to  strive  per- 
sistently for  the  fit  adjustment  of  their  intellectual  and 
emotional  powers  to  each  other.  This  will  lead  to  the 
gradual  development  of  their  intellectual  clamps,  which 
are  only  rudimental  now,  and,  after  a  while,  they  will  be 
able  to  reach  out  like  a  devil-fish  and  hold  all  the  most 
intimately  related  truths  in  view  at  once." 

The  wedding  was  like  other  weddings.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Jorman  disappeared  from  our  view  under  a  fusillade 
of  benedictions.  It  was  arranged  that  Miss  Evalstone 
and  Miss  Loyalty  should  remain  at  the  Revere  until  the 
opening  of  the  house  on  34th  Street,  when  they  were  to 
take  up  their  permanent  abode  there  as  members  of  Mr. 
Jorman's  family.  I  stopped  in  New  York,  with  mother 
and  Dolly,  one  day  ;  and  then  we  were  whirled  away  to 
Verdville,  South  Carolina.  A  snug  little  cottage  had 
been  secured,  and,  as  the  furniture  had  arrived,  my  dear 
ones  were  soon  settled  in  their  new  home.  Their  in- 
terior lives,  while  the  strangeness  clung  to  their  surround- 
ings, could  be  described  with  great  accuracy  by  several 
myriads  of  women  in  this  land  of  migrations. 

I  began  to  feel  very  eager  for  the  settlement  of  the 
great  question  to  which  all  the  other  problems,  that  had 
come  in  my  way  for  nearly  two  years,  had  been  merely 
preliminary.  I  had  carried  all  the  outworks  ;  but  the 
citadel  was  still  before  me,  and  I  could  only  form  conjec- 
tures on  the  possiblity  of  effecting  an  entrance.  I  made 
no  attempt  to  disguise  from  myself  the  fact,  that  I  might 
yet  become  the  victim  of  a  disaster  which  would  cause 


246  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

me  to  feel  that  all  my  preliminary  successes  were  worth- 
less. It  was  plain  that  my  first  business  should  be  the 
establishment  of  myself  at  Ellermere  ;  and  one  circum- 
stance came  to  my  aid  very  effectively.  It  had  been 
noised  about  the  village  that  I  had  become  the  owner  of 
that  property,  and  was  on  the  point  of  taking  possession 
of  it.  This  report  led  to  my  mother's  being  visited  by  a 
wholesome-looking  colored  woman,  about  fifty  years  old, 
who  said  her  name  was  "  Aunt  Phyllis."  It  appeared 
that  she  had  been  brought  up  at  Ellermere,  and  was 
yearning  to  return  to  her  old  home.  Moreover,  she  had  a 
daughter  and  a  son-in-law, — Courtney  and  William — who 
wanted  to  work  for  me,  and  who  had  "  only  three  chil- 
dren." William  was  said  to  be  a  "  mighty  peert  hand  wid 
critters."  This  was  precisely  the  kind  of  help  which  I 
desired  to  secure  at  the  outset  ;  and  I  had  no  difficulty 
in  making  a  bargain.  Then  I  bought  a  span  of  mules 
and  the  whole  outfit  of  a  "  team."  I  chanced,  also,  to 
get  possession  of  what  turned  out  to  be  an  excellent 
saddle-horse.  My  mother  selected  a  stove  and  cooking 
utensils  for  me,  together  with  such  furniture  as  would  make 
me  comfortable,  and  a  little  stock  of  provisions.  These 
things,  amounting  to  two  wagon-loads,  having  been  sent 
forward  with  my  newly  employed  helpers,  the  time  came 
for  me  to  mount  my  horse.  My  mother  had  been  sitting 
for  some  minutes,  with  her  hands  crossed  on  her  lap  and 
her  eyes  fastened  upon  the  floor. 

"  What  are  you  thinking  about,  mother  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  I  was  thinking,"  she  answered,  "  about  that  Spartan 
mother  who  gave  her  son  a  shield  and  told  him  to  come 
back  -with  it  or  upon  it.  It  seems  to  me  that,  with  all  my 
weakness,  I  could  almost  do  such  a  thing  as  that.  I 
can't  help  trembling  a  little,  George,  when  I  think  how 


ANOTHER    WINTER.  247 

much  is  depending  on  what  has  got  to  be  decided  pretty 
soon  now.  But  my  heart  do,n'j:  sink.  It  is  full  of  hope. 
Oh  !  how  could  I  keep  from  hating  her  if  she  should  reject 
you  ?  But  she  is  not  going  to  reject  you.  There  can't 
be  such  a  thing  as  that  in  store  for  your  father's  son. 
The  Lord  will  guide  you  and  teach  you  what  to  say.  I 
feel  that  I  shall  be  helping  you  all  the  time.  It  can't  be 
that  I  should  have  this  inexpressible  longing  to  help  you 
if  it  was  not  possible  for  me  to  do  so.  Don't  come  back 
here  till  it  is  all  settled.  I  sha'n't  expect  you  for  some 
days.  If  you  get  any  real  encouragement  I  shall  call  it 
settled.  When  it  is  decided  you  will  come  to  me  as  soon 
as  possible  ;  whether  you  have  joy  or  sorrow  to  bring,  you 
will  need  your  mother.  Good-bye  now.  Get  on  your 
horse  and  ride  off  like  a  young  hero." 

"  Tell  Martha  she  'd  better  look  out  now,  for  my 
finger-nails  are  awfully  sharp,"  said  Dolly. 

When  I  reached  Ellermere  I  found  that  Aunt  Phyllis 
had  managed  to  get  the  stove  in  operation  by  running 
the  pipe  out  at  the  window,  and  had  made  a  pot  of 
coffee  to  accompany  the  cold  bread  and  meat  which  my 
mother  had  put  up  for  us.  The  next  morning  the  scrub- 
bing and  patching  of  floors  began  ;  and,  after  a  hard 
day's  work,  we  had  three  or  four  rooms  in  quite  decent 
order.  Aunt  Phyllis  showed  herself  much  more  capable/ 
than  I  was  of  superintending  the  work,  and,  on  the 
morning  of  the  succeeding  day,  I  saw  that  I  had  no, 
reason  for  deferring  my  visit  to  the  Orlingtons.  Telling 
Aunt  Phyllis  I  did  not  know  how  long  I  should  be 
absent,  I  mounted  my  horse  and  started.  I  had  made 
up  my  mind  that  my  first  step  should  be  an  explanation 
with  Colonel  Orlington  of  the  cause  which  had  impelled 
me  to  purchase  Ellermere,  and  a  straightforward  request 


248  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

for  permission  to  address  his  daughter  as  a  suitor  for  her 
hand.  I  suppose  that,  as  I  rode  along,  my  state  of  mind 
was  very  similar  to  that  of  which  some  millions  of  my 
fellow- Americans  have  had  experience.  On  the  whole, 
my  hopes  preponderated  over  my  fears.  This  result  was 
largely  aided  by  the  continual  recurrence  to  my  mind  of 
Jorman's  reasons  for  taking  a  favorable  view  of  my 
prospect.  I  attached  importance,  also,  to  the  Colonel's 
recollections  of  my  father.  As  I  rode  up  to  the  house  I 
caught  a  glimpse  of  Miss  Martha  looking  out  at  the  win- 
dow, and  I  was  sure  that  a  frightened  look  flashed  over 
her  face  as  she  sprang  out  of  my  sight.  I  could  not  keep 
my  heart  from  sinking.  Nevertheless,  I  tied  my  horse  to 
the  new  picket-fence  and  went  up  the  steps  to  the  door. 
My  knock  was  answered  by  Colonel  Orlington  in  person, 
and  as  soon  as  I  saw  his  face  my  heart  sank  still  lower. 
His  expression  was  one  of  sorrow  perceptibly  mingled 
with  displeasure.  He  took  my  hand,  but  I  could  not 
feel  the  slightest  suggestion  of  a  return  pressure.  He 
asked  me  into  the  parlor  and  handed  me  a  chair.  Then 
he  took  a  seat  at  a  convenient  distance  for  conversation, 
but  had  not  a  word  to  say.  I  was  on  the  point  of  asking 
Colonel  Orlington  why  he  treated  me  in  that  way,  but 
immediately  decided  that  it  would  be  improper  for  me  to 
call  his  manner  in  question  while  I  was  still  under  his 
roof.  I  asked  after  the  health  of  the  family  and  was 
answered  that  all  were  well.  I  drew  out  the  fact  that  the 
crops  of  the  previous  season  had  been  good  ;  and  the 
Colonel  volunteered  the  information  that  his  circum- 
stances were  improving.  I  said,  at  length  :  "  Mrs. 
Orlington  and  Miss  Orlington  are  at  home,  I  suppose." 

"Yes,  they  are  at  home.     They  are  usually  very  much 
occupied  with  their  household  cares." 


ANOTHER    WINTER.  249 

I  said  that  I  had  finished  paying  for  Ellermere,  and 
had  taken  possession  of  the  property  ;  and  he  answered  : 
"  I  supposed  you  would  do  so." 

I  said  :  "  I  have  been  hoping  to  profit  very  much 
by  your  advice,  as  I  am  entirely  inexperienced  in 
planting." 

To  this  he  replied  :  "  It  is  not  likely  that  you  will  see 
me  at  Ellermere  very  soon.  The  associations  of  the 
place  have  become  very  painful  to  me." 

This  was  all  I  could  stand.  I  said  "  Good-day,"  got 
out  of  the  house  the  best  way  I  could,  mounted  my 
horse  and  rode  slowly  toward  my  new  home.  For  the 
moment  my  spirit  was  entirely  prostrate  ;  every  particle 
of  my  pluck  was  gone.  "  My  life  is  wrecked  ;  my  life  is 
wrecked,"  I  said  over  and  over  again.  My  first  definite 
thought,  in  the  way  of  accounting  for  the  change  in 
Colonel  Orlington's  manner  toward  me,  was,  that  he 
chose  to  have  me  understand  at  the  outset  that  a  North- 
erner could  be  no  welcome  neighbor  of  the  Orlington 
family,  however  ready  they  might  be  to  extend  hospital- 
ity to  him  as  a  drummer.  But  nothing  that  I  had  ever 
seen  in  Colonel  Orlington  appeared  to  justify  that  view. 
Then  I  remembered  Miss  Martha's  frightened  look  and 
the  haste  with  which  she  sprang  away  from  the  window, 
and  I  said  :  "  It  may  be  they  have  all  foreseen  that  I 
should  offer  myself  to  her,  and  want  to  save  me  the 
mortification  of  being  rejected."  But  this,  too,  seemed 
to  be  an  insufficient  explanation.  I  fancied  this  and  I 
fancied  that,  and  finally  submitted  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  mystery  was  insoluble.  I  thought  of  meeting  my 
mother,  and  my  imagination  created  a  most  pathetic 
scene.  Then  I  imagined  myself  in  the  presence  of  Jor- 
man,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  could  almost  hear  him 


250  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

saying,  "Well,  Nolly,  this  is  terribly  rough  on  you." 
Somehow,  that  name,  "  Nolly,"  stayed  in  my  mind  and 
soon  brought  up  the  circumstances  under  which  I  had 
received  it.  I  stopped  my  horse  with  a  convulsive  jerk. 
For  a  single  instant  I  was  completely  stupefied.  Then  I 
exclaimed  aloud  : 

"  A  pretty  knowledge-compeller  I  am.  Here  is  a 
question  connected  with  all  I  care  for  in  this  world,  and 
I  have  given  it  up  at  the  very  start  as  a  mystery  that 
can't  be  solved." 

I  turned  my  horse  and  spurred  him  into  a  mad  gallop. 
I  laid  my  course  through  a  field  in  which  I  had  caught  a 
view  of  John  Orlington,  repairing  a  fence,  and  I  was  soon 
at  his  side.  "  John,"  I  shouted,  "  I  am  going  to  know 
what  this  means." 

He  looked  up,  with  his  dark  eyes  full  of  defiance, 
and  answered  :  "  You  are  going  to  know  what  what 
means  ?  " 

"  I  am  going  to  know  why  your  father  makes  it  as 
plain  as  possible  that  he  don't  want  me  to  come  about 
his  house,  arid  why  your  mother  and  sister  won't  speak 
to  me.  I  can  put  up  with  any  decent  kind  of  a  mystery, 
but  I  can't  stand  this,  and  I  won't." 

I  was  nearer  crying  than  I  often  get,,  and  John  was 
impressed  by  emotion.  "  I  '11  go  to  the  house  and  see 
the  folks,"  he  said,  after  reflecting  a  moment. 

I  rode  by  his  side,  but  neither  of  us  uttered  a  word 
till  we  reached  the  house.  He  asked  me  if  I  would 
go  in.  "No,"  I  said,  "you  will  find  me  sitting  on  the 
wood-pile  here  when  any  of  you  have  any  thing  to  say 
to  me." 

In  about  five  minutes,  Colonel  Orlington  came  out  and 
took  a  seat  at  my  side.  "  They  all  say,"  he  began,  "  that 


ANOTHER    WINTER.  251 

I  ought  to  tell  you  why  our  way  of  treating  you  is 
changed.  It  is  a  very  painful  thing  for  me  to  do.  It 
has  been  very,  very  painful  for  me  to  think  what  I  have 
I  been  compelled  to  think  about  a  son  of  Jabez  Bidrop. 
I  can't  help  wondering,  though,  at  your  asking  an  ex- 
planation. We  have  heard  about  your  proceedings  out 
in  the  Northwest  last  summer.  We  have  heard  of  your 
leaving  that  place — Mackopah,  I  believe  the  name  is, — 
between  two  days." 

He  paused  and  looked  squarely  in  ray  face.  I  knew, 
in  an  instant,  the  substance  of  what  was  coming.  The 
remembrance  flashed  upon  me  that  Mr.  Klergham,  the 
Spartanburg  lawyer  whom  I  had  met  at  Colonel  Orling- 
ton's  house  the  preceding  winter,  was  at  Mackopah  at 
the  time  of  my  senseless  midnight  departure,  and  that  he 
had  left  the  place  before  my  return.  The  manifestations 
of  my  overwhelming  shame,  on  account  of  my  idiocy  in 
exposing  myself  to  such  a  terrible  misconception,  were 
easily  mistaken  by  the  Colonel  for  signs  of  conscious 
guilt.  It  was  some  moments  before  I  could  utter  a  word; 
and  my  voice  was  almost  beyond  my  control  when  I 
managed  to  say  :  "  I  wish  for  a  precise  statement  of 
what  you  have  heard." 

Colonel  Orlington  heaved  a  deep  sigh  and  answered  : 
"  The  statement  is,  that  you  claimed  to  own  a  large 
amount  of  valuable  land  at  Mackopah,  and  talked  very 
largely  about  grading,  laying  out  streets,  and  so  forth  ; 
that  you  gave  a  merchant  a  small  draft  which  he  sent  to 
New  York  and  had  collected  ;  that,  after  you  got  the 
money,  you  had  a  little  grading  done,  to  keep  up  appear- 
ances, but  did  n't  act  as  if  you  expected  to  accomplish 
any  thing  ;  that,  by  working  yourself  into  the  merchant's 
confidence,  you  got  him  to  cash  a  draft  for  several  thou- 


252  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

sand  dollars  ;  that  this  large  draft  was  protested,  and 
you  immediately  discharged  your  men  and  disappeared 
in  the  middle  of  the  night.  That  was  the  last  that  was 
heard  of  you  till  a  man  came  up  the  river  and  reported 
that  you  had  sold  your  horse  at  some  place  and  taken  a 
steamer  for  the  East.  After  the  merchant  had  given  up 
all  hope  of  your  returning,  he  looked  around  to  see  if 
you  had  any  property  that  he  could  get  hold  of.  He 
had  the  records  examined,  and  found  that  you  did  n't 
own  a  foot  of  land  in  the  county,  and  had  n't  a  vestige 
of  any  property  there  except  a  few  cheap  tools." 

It  was  all  perfectly  clear.  I  had  deferred  getting  my 
deeds  recorded  until  the  office  should  be  opened  at  the 
new  county-seat.  The  man  to  whom  I  had  paid  the 
$3,000  for  the  twenty  acres  of  land  had  departed  imme- 
diately for  the  East.  I  had  drawn  the  deed  myself,  and 
the  officer  who  took  the  acknowledgment  happened  to 
be  temporarily  absent  when  the  inquiries  about  my  prop- 
erty were  on  foot.  Mr.  Gabineau,  from  whom  I  had 
made  my  first  purchase,  was  a  reticent  man,  and  had 
hastened  to  use  a  little  of  his  newly  acquired  wealth  in 
making  a  visit  to  his  old  home  in  Canada. 

When  the  Colonel  had  concluded  his  statement,  I  sat 
for  some  time  in  silent  meditation.  I  had  recovered  the 
command  of  my  faculties,  and  I  soon  laid  out  my  course. 
I  determined  not  to  attempt  to  clear  the  matter  up  until 
it  could  be  cleared  up  once  for  all,  and,  therefore,  that  I 
would  enter  upon  no  explanation  until  I  could  present 
evidence  which  would  place  my  integrity  beyond  the 
shadow  of  a  doubt.  My  first  words  were  : 

"  Mr.  Klergham  is  at  Spartanburg,  I  suppose  ?  " 

"  I  have  not  said  that  my  information  came  from  him," 
Colonel  Orlington  replied. 


ANOTHER    WINTER.  253 

"  There  was  no  need  of  your  saying  so,"  I  said.  "  I 
have  no  fault  to  find  with  Mr.  Klergham.  Appearances 
were  against  me.  Of  course  I  shall  not  trouble  you  with 
my  presence  again  until  I  am  invited  to  your  house  by 
yourself.  And  now  I  will  tell  you  frankly  what  such  an 
invitation  will  mean.  I  gave  my  heart  to  Miss  Martha 
Orlington  the  first  night  that  I  was  ever  in  her  presence. 
I  determined  to  become  the  owner  of  Ellermere,  because 
I  had  heard  her  say  that  she  would  rather  live  there  than 
anywhere  else  in  the  world,  if  she  could  not  stay  at  her 
present  home.  It  was  for  that  reason  that  I  engaged  in 
the  enterprise  at  Mackopah  ;  and  you  will  be  convinced, 
sooner  or  later,  that  I  did  nothing  wrong  there.  Now, 
your  invitation  of  me  to  your  house  will  mean  that  you 
freely  consent  to  my  endeavoring  to  win  the  affections 
of  Miss  Orlington.  I  am  going  to  make  her  my  wife  if 
such  a  thing  is  within  the  range  of  possibilities.  With- 
out such  a  result  life  would  be  worthless  to  me." 

The  Colonel  was  evidently  astounded  by  this  speech. 
His  conviction  of  my  guilt  was  somewhat  shaken,  though 
I  could  see  that  his  mind  preponderated  to  the  view  that 
I  was  merely  carrying  the  matter  off  for  the  moment 
with  a  brazen  face.  He  said,  at  length  :  "  You  are  cer- 
tainly acting  honorably  in  saying  this  to  me,  if  that  is 
your  feeling." 

I  said  "  Good-day,"  and  started  for  Spartanburg.  I 
will  trouble  the  reader  with  no  extended  record  of  the 
thoughts  which  occupied  me  during  the  next  twenty- 
four  hours.  As  I  rode  along  at  a  rapid  pace  I  became 
more  hopeful  than  I  had  ever  been  before  of  the  con- 
summation which  had  been  almost  my  "  all  in  all  "  for 
so  many  months.  My  blood  was  up,  and  the  old  fore- 
taste of  victory  was  in  full  volume.  "  The  reaction  in 


254  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

their  feelings  ,  when  they  come  to  know  the  truth,  will 
settle  the  matter  at  once,"  I  thought.  "  I  can  under- 
stand now  why  Martha  was  in  such  a  panic  when  she 
caught  a  glimpse  of  me.  If  she  had  n't  cared  for  me,  her 
face  would  n't  have  had  such  a  look  as  that.  Blessings 
upon  old  Jorman  !  If  he  had  never  called  me  '  Nolly,' 
my  life  would  have  fizzled  out  to  nothing." 

I  reached  Spartanburg  about  five  o'clock  in  the  even- 
ing, and  found  Mr.  Klergham  straightening  up  his  office 
preparatory  to  going  home  for  the  day.  He  looked  at 
me  with  evident  surprise,  pronounced  my  name,  and 
mechanically  offered  his  hand. 

"  No,  Mr.  Klergham,"  I  said,  "  I  will  not  inflict  a  hand- 
shake on  you  till  you  have  ceased  to  regard  me  as  a  vil- 
lian.  I  don't  blame  you  a  particle  for  what  you  have 
said.  This  thing  has  come  about  through  my  own  super- 
lative senselessness.  But  I  have  come  to  ask  you  to  send 
a  telegram  to  some  acquaintance  of  yours  at  Mackopah. 
I  remember  that  you  went  there  in  company  with  Wil- 
liam Bernton,  and  I  believe  he  is  there  still." 

"  Yes ;  he  is  established  in  business  there,"  was  the 
response. 

"  Is  he  known  and  trusted  about  here  ?  " 

"  Very  widely  known  and  very  thoroughly  trusted." 
I  sat  down  and  wrote  :  "  To  William  Bernton,  Macko- 
pah, Dakota.  How  did  the  affairs  of  Bidrop  at  Macko- 
pah turn  out  ?  Answer  fully  at  my  expense." 

"  Certainly,"  said  Mr.  Klergham,  "  I  will  send  the 
telegram.  It  is  simply  just  that  I  should  do  so." 

I  laid  upon  his  table  a  roll  of  bank-notes,  to  pay  the 
cost  of  telegraphing,  and  was  moving  toward  the  door, 
when  the  lawyer  said  :  "  Stop  a  moment,  if  you  please. 
I  want  to  say  now,  since  I  have  taken  occasion  really  to 


ANOTHER    WINTER.  255 

look  at  you,  which  I  never  did  before,  that  I  believe  in 
you  notwithstanding  all  those  dark-looking  circum- 
stances. I  should  like  to  shake  hands  with  you  before 
you  go,  Mr.  Bidrop." 

I  saw  he  was  in  earnest  and  grasped  his  hand  heartily, 
telling  him  that  I  should  be  in  waiting  at  the  Commercial 
Hotel.  The  hours  dragged  very  slowly,  and  I  slept  but 
little  that  night.  I  could  not  help  fearing  that  Bernton 
would  be  away,  or  that  something  would  prolong  the 
period  of  suspense.  But  about  eleven  o'clock,  the  next 
morning,  Klergham  rushed  into  the  smoking-room  with 
the  answer  to  his  telegram,  which  read  as  follows  :  "  We 
did  Bidrop  great  injustice.  Protest  all  a  mistake.  Delay 
in  getting  deeds  recorded.  He  returned  with  plenty  of 
money  and  a  large  force  of  men.  Achieved  a  magnifi- 
cent success.  Made  a  fortune.  Has  the  boundless  con- 
fidence of  every  one  here." 

As  I  read  these  words,  there  were  two  or  three  tears 
which  I  was  unable  to  choke  back.  Klergham  patted 
my  shoulder,  and,  as  Boon  as  I  had  regained  my  com- 
posure, he  said  :  "  Now,  my  friend,  I  want  you  to  do  me 
a  little  favor.  I  want  you  to  take  back  all  this  money 
that  you  left  upon  my  table  and  let  me  bear  the  expense 
of  the  telegrams."  I  expostulated  with  him  ;  but  he 
had  his  way  in  the  end.  I  then  asked  : 

"Will  you  communicate  this  information  to  Colonel 
Orlington? " 

He  answered  :  "  I  have  already  started  a  messenger  to 
Colonel  Orlington  with  a  copy  of  Bernton's  telegram.  My 
man  happened  to  be  at  the  office  when  it  came.  He 
used  to  belong  to  the  colonel." 

"  Mr.  Klergham,"  said  I,  "  I  am  glad  these  things  have 
taken  place.  I  am  glad  to  have  come  into  these  relations 


256  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

with  a  South  Carolina  gentleman.  But  I  must  be  start- 
ing for  home." 

"  I  think  I  know  what  port  you  are  bound  for,"  he 
said,  "  and  I  wish  you  success  with  all  my  heart." 

I  reached  Ellermere  a  little  after  dark,  and  retired 
quite  early.  As  I  was  beginning  to  dress,  the  next 
morning,  Aunt  Phyllis  came  to  my  door  and  called  out : 
"  Yere  's  Misser  Johnny  Orlin'ton  a-wantin'  ter  see  ye. 
De  Lord  bress  *im." 

I  opened  my  door,  and  John  rushed  in  and  nearly 
wrenched  my  hand  from  my  wrist.  "  Pa  wants  you  to 
come  over  to  breakfast,"  he  said.  "We  've  all  been  about 
upset  with  happiness  since  last  night.  What  a  driver 
you  are  !  There  's  no  poking  about  and  dallying  around 
when  you  go  at  a  thing.  We  had  all  just  come  out  from 
supper  last  night,  when  we  heard  a  big  knocking  at  the 
door  and,  in  a  second  or  two,  Nanny  screamed  out  that 
there  was  Mr.  Klergham's  Ben.  'a-wantin'  de  Colonel'. 
Ben  came  in  and  handed  pa  a  letter  and  said  :  '  I  reckon 
it  's  suthin  mighty  speshalus.  Boss  tole  me  let  de  mare 
slide  like  de  debble  wor  a-chasin'  'er'.  Pa  handed  the 
letter  to  Sis  and  told  her  to  see  what  was  in  it.  She 
went  to  where  the  lamp  was  and  leaned  over  to  it  a  little, 
and  we  were  all  standing  around  her,  and  she  read  out 
loud.  Mr.  Klergham  said  he  hastened  to  repair  an  in- 
justice he  had  done.  Then  there  was  the  copy  of  Mr. 
Bernton's  telegram.  We  know  all  about  Mr.  Bernton  ; 
he 's  one  of  the  best  men  in  the  world.  And  Mr.  Klerg- 
ham said  at  the  end  that  he  considered  you  one  of  the 
truest  gentlemen  he  ever  met.  Sis  read  pretty  fast  and 
had  got  all  through  before  she  appeared  to  understand 
what  she  had  been  reading.  Then,  all  at  once,  she 
turned  as  white  as  a  sheet,  and  dropped  the  letter  on  the 


ANOTHER    WINTER.  257 

floor,  and  screamed  out  '  Papa  !  '  and  threw  her  arms 
about  his  neck,  and  began  to  cry  terribly.  Pa  sat  down 
in  a  chair  and  took  Sis  in  his  lap  and  kept  saying 
'There,  there,'  to  her.  It  ain't  often  that  Sis  boo-hoos, 
but  she  went  it  then  I  tell  you.  Well,  the  fact  is,  I 
reckon  we  all  made  a  nice  lot  of  babies  of  ourselves. 
After  a  while  Sis  got  so  she  could  talk,  and  then  she  told 
us  she  was  sorry  to  be  so  foolish,  but  we  could  n't  imagine 
how  wretched  she  had  been  ever  since  that  report  came 
about  you.  She  said  it  was  such  a  disappointment  to 
have  to  think  that  a  person  who  had  seemed  to  be  so  good 
and  noble  had  turned  out  to  be  dishonest  after  all.  She 
told  us  she  had  had  wicked  doubts  come  into  her  mind 
about  there  being  any  goodness  in  the  world,  and  wicked 
questions  about  whether  it  was  any  use  to  try  to  be  good 
as  long  as  we  are  living  in  such  a  bad  world.  Sis  said 
she  had  been  fighting  off  such  thoughts  by  making  her- 
self think  of  pa  and  ma  and  the  old  general  and  a  few 
more,  and  had  prayed  every  little  while,  but  she  had  had 
to  keep  going  through  the  fight  in  her  mind  over  and 
over,  every  day." 

Soon  after  I  had  gotten  out  my  horse  and  we  had 
started  on  our  way,  John  gave  me  a  sidelong  glance  and 
said,  in  a  low  voice  :  "  Pa  told  Sis  every  word  you  said 
to  him  the  other  day." 

I  could  hardly  have  asked  what  the  result  was  if  my 
life  had  been  at  stake.  But  John  saw  the  agony  of  sus- 
pense in  my  face,  and  went  on  :  "  She  sat  right  still  in 
pa's  lap,  and  appeared  like  she  was  looking  right  sharply 
at  nothing  ;  and  there  was  a  queer  little  pinkish  color 
on  her  cheeks.  By  and  by  she  put  her  hand  up  in  pa's 
hair,  and  asked  him  what  made  him  let  you  say  such 
foolish  things  to  him.  Then  she  went  to  the  window 


258  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

and  pushed  the  curtain  one  side,  and  sat  down  and 
looked  out  into  the  moonlight,  with  her  face  in  her 
hands  and  her  elbows  on  the  window-sill.  She  sat  there 
as  still  as  a  mouse  a  good  long  time.  She  did  n't  say  a 
word  nor  make  a  motion  till  she  came  round  to  kiss  us 
all  good-night,  as  she  always  does.  Then  she  told  pa 
she  had  made  up  her  mind  not  to  punish  him  just  yet, 
and  she  said  she  reckoned  ma  would  n't  be  naughty  any 
more,  and  she  pulled  my  ear  and  asked  me  if  I  did  n't 
know  that  I  was  the  greatest  rascal  in  South  Carolina. 
Then  she  took  up  her  lamp  and  backed  out  of  the  room 
in  a  play-actor  kind  of  a  way,  and  kept  saying,  in  a  little 
more  than  a  whisper  :  '  To  bed  ;  to  bed  ;  to  bed.'  Pa 
said  she  was  taking  off  Lady  Mac — Something,  in 
Shakespeare.  He  said  he  remembered  telling  her  once 
how  Charlotte  Cushman  used  to  speak  those  words." 

When  we  arrived  at  the  house  Colonel  Orlington  met 
me  with  a  countenance  overflowing  with  joy  ;  and,  this 
time,  there  was  no  lack  of  force  in  the  hand-clasp  which 
he  gave  me.  He  attempted  to  apologize  for  having  be- 
lieved evil  of  me  ;  but  I  refused  to  listen  to  him.  I  hung 
my  hat  on  a  rack  in  the  hall,  and  the  Colonel  then  con- 
ducted me  to  the  parlor-door,  opened  it  for  me,  and  shut 
it  behind  me  when  I  had  passed  into  the  room.  Looking 
to  the  right,  I  saw  Miss  Martha  rise  from  a  sofa,  take 
two  or  three  steps  and  then  stop.  I  walked  straight  up 
to  her,  and  my  arms  were  around  her  and  my  lips  were 
pressed  to  hers  before  either  of  us  had  uttered  a  word. 
Our  betrothal  was  complete  ;  and  yet  a  syllable  upon  the 
subject  had  never  passed  between  us.  But  there  was  no 
lack  of  such  syllables  when  we  sat  side  by  side  on  the 
sofa.  I  found  that  Mr.  Jorman  had  read  the  young 
lady's  mind  correctly,  in  the  main,  and  that  his  philoso- 


ANOTHER    WINTER.  259 

phizing  on  what  necessarily  followed  from  that  inter- 
change of  gazes,  which  he  had  regarded  as  so  momentous, 
was  justified  by  the  facts.  It  turned  out  that  my 
inquiries  about  the  ownership  of  Ellermere,  with  the  look 
that  was  in  my  eyes  at  the  time,  had  operated  as  a  reve- 
lation of  my  ultimate  object,  and  that  my  having  con- 
tracted for  the  purchase  of  the  property  had  been 
accepted  as  strong  confirmation.  On  my  asking  if  my 
silence  on  the  subject  of  my  love  had  not  seemed  strange 
to  her,  Martha  replied  : 

"  Oh,  if  you  had  been  anybody  else,  I  should  have 
pushed  all  thoughts  of  your  caring  for  me  out  of  my 
mind.  But  I  knew  that  what  others  would  do  under  the 
circumstances  was  no  rule  for  you.  I  knew  you  were 
strong  enough  to  keep  silent,  howe'ver  full  your  heart 
might  be,  if  you  thought  you  ought  to.  You  see  I  under- 
stood you  pretty  well.  I  made  one  mistake,  though.  I 
supposed  you  would  get  settled  down  at  Ellermere,  and 
then  pay  your  attentions  in  a  gradual  sort  of  a  way,  like 
other  folks.  I  had  no  idea  of  your  taking  me  by  storm 
in  this  way." 

At  the  breakfast-table  I  was  naturally  led  into  a  narra- 
tion of  the  circumstances  by  which  Mr.  Klergham  had 
been  misled  ;  and  my  severe  criticisms  of  my  own  con- 
duct drew  from  my  betrothed  some  very  manifest  signs 
of  indignation.  She  said  I  had  no  right  to  make  such 
remarks,  and  that  Solomon  himself  would  not  have  acted 
any  more  wisely  when  every  thing  was  all  new  to  him. 
That  was  the  first  time  I  ever  excited  her  displeasure, 
but  not  the  last. 

While  I  was  taking  my  after-breakfast  smoke,  with  the 
back  of  my  chair  against  a  window,  I  felt  the  gentlest  of 
all  possible  pinches  upon  my  ear,  and  heard  a  whispered 


260  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

"  Nolly."  When  I  whirled  around,  the  laughing  maiden 
had  sprung  back  a  yard  or  two  ;  but  I  soon  had  hold  of 
her  hand. 

"Why  do  you  call  me  '  Nolly  '  ?"  I  asked. 

"Oh,"  she  answered,  "  that  has  been  my  name  for  you 
ever  since  you  were  here  with  Mr.  Jorman, — my  own 
private  name,  you  know.  I  have  never  called  you  so 
aloud,  except  sometimes  when  I  knew  nobody  could  hear 
me.  I  like  to  think  how  your  friend  came  to  give  you 
that  name.  Besides,  '  Nolly '  is  so  much  better  than 
'  George  '  for  the  name  of  a  nice  little  pet.  And  do  you 
know  that  I  have  actually  dreamed  of  pinching  your 
ear  ? " 

After  a  few  delicious  hours,  I  said  that  I  must  go  and 
carry  the  good  news  to  my  mother,  and  then  I  gave  as 
clear  an  idea  as  I  could  of  her  deep  sympathy  with  me 
throughout  my  momentous  heart-experience.  Over- 
hearing me  ask  Martha  when  I  should  bring  my  mother 
to  see  her,  the  Colonel  inquired  : 

"  Does  your  mother  hold  to  any  rule  according  to 
which  it  would  seem  indelicate  for  Martha  to  call  on  her 
first?" 

"  I  am  not  aware  that  she  does,"  I  answered.  "We 
have  never  moved  in  highly  fashionable  society,  nor 
made  a  study  of  its  rules.  As  a  family  we  have  always 
kept  ourselves  very  much  at  liberty." 

"Matters  of  etiquette,"  said  the  Colonel,  "take  up  very 
few  of  our  thoughts.  We  merely  try  lo  get  at  what  is 
right.  The  general  feeling  around  here  is,  that,  when  a 
meeting  is  to  be  brought  about  between  a  young  person 
and  a  person  more  advanced  in  years,  who  are  at  some 
distance  from  each  other,  the  necessary  exertion  should 
be  borne  by  the  younger  of  the  two.  Besides,  Mrs.  Or- 


ANOTHER    WINTER.  261 

lington  and  myself  must  insist  on  paying  our  respects  to 
your  mother  before  any  thing  is  said  of  her  visiting  us. 
This  is  due  to  her  as  a  new-comer  in  South  Carolina.  If 
you  think  it  proper,  we  will  all  come  to  Verdville  to- 
morrow. We  will  take  dinner  at  the  hotel,  and  you  can 
then  conduct  us  to  your  mother." 

"  Let  it  be  understood  then,"  I  said,  "  that  you  will 
be  my  guests  at  the  hotel.  My  mother  and  Dolly  will  be 
there  to  receive  you." 

I  arrived  at  the  cottage  in  Verdville  just  as  the  sun 
was  setting.  My  mother  caught  sight  of  me  through  the 
window,  as  I  rode  up,  and  flew  to  the  door.  As  soon  as 
she  saw  my  face  clearly,  she  turned  back  into  the  house 
and  called  out,  "  Dolly  !  Dolly  !  It  is  all  right.  O  how 
good  the  Lord  is!  " 

The  conversation  which  took  place  that  evening,  within 
the  walls  of  the  little  cottage,  must  be  left  to  the  imagina- 
tions of  my  readers.  They  will  have  little  difficulty  in 
reproducing  the  happy  scene  for  themselves,  unless  I  have 
failed  in  my  purpose  to  make  them  acquainted  with  the 
widow,  the  son,  and  the  daughter,  of  Jabez  Bidrop. 

I  was  able  to  secure  the  exclusive  use  of  a  large  parlor 
at  the  hotel  for  our  visit  with  the  Orlingtons  ;  and  the 
occasion  was  full  of  interest.  My  dear  mother  was  made 
very  happy  by  the  Colonel's  account  of  her  beloved  hus- 
band's college-life.  Dolly  was  wholly  satisfied  as  she 
sat  clasping  the  waist  of  her  "  sister  Martha."  Mrs.  Or- 
lington's  calm  religiousness  helped  us  to  see  all  subjects 
under  discussion  in  their  higher  relations  ;  and  John's 
vivacity  seemed  to  quicken  the  vital  forces  of  all.  It 
was  a  blessed  day. 

I  awoke  the  next  morning  with  my  faculties  ready  for 
business  and  with  such  a  consciousness  of  energy  as  I 


262  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

had  seldom  known.  The  house  at  Ellermere  was  tb  be 
put  in  a  habitable  condition  in  the  shortest  time  possible. 
'Half  a  day  sufficed  for  the  maturing  of  my  plan  of  oper- 
ations. My  architect's  examinations  were  made  at  once, 
and  his  "  bills  "  for  materials  were  soon  in  my  hands. 
All  points  of  the  compass  were  drawn  upon  for  lumber, 
brick,  lime,  hardware,  carpenters,  masons,  painters,  and 
tinners.  The  principal  timbers  in  the  frame  of  the  main 
building  were  found  to  be  entirely  sound  ;  and  I  pre- 
served the  original  plan  of  the  house  with  the  addition 
of  two  bay  windows  and  two  entirely  new  wings.  While 
work  on  the  house  was  proceeding,  it  was  necessary  for 
me  to  make  arrangements  for  the  cultivation  of  my  land. 
Under  Colonel  Orlington's  advice — I  rode  over  nearly 
every  day  to  ask  his  advice — I  determined  to  do  but  little 
farming  myself  the  first  season,  but  to  throw  up  several 
small  houses  for  tenants  at  convenient  points  on  the 
plantation.  There  was  a  swarm  of  applicants  for  oppor- 
tunity to  plant  on  shares  ;  and  I  selected  such  as  the 
Colonel  or  John  pointed  out  as  the  best  men.  In  most 
cases  I  had  to  furnish  mules  and  their  "  feed,"  and  to 
advance  provisions  for  the  families  to  live  on  while  mak- 
ing their  crops.  Fortunately,  the  "no-fence  law,"  as  it 
is  called,  had  been  adopted  by  the  county  in  which 
Ellermere  is  situated.  It  was  then  a  "  local-option  law," 
but  has  since  been  extended  over  the  whole  State. 

I  had  sent  Mrs.  Jorman  diagrams  of  the  two  floors  of 
my  house,  and  she  had  kindly  selected  furniture  for  all 
the  rooms.  It  was  on  hand  as  soon  as  the  house  was 
ready  for  it.  Then  we  had  a  wedding  and  a  house- 
warming  ;  and  then  my  darling  and  I  were  by  ourselves 
in  our  own  home,  just  beginning  to  comprehend  our  own 
blessedness. 


ANOTHER    WINTER.  263 

After  a  few  days  we  rode  over  to  Verdville,  intending 
to  urge  that  Dolly  should  take  a  room  at  the  hoarding- 
school,  and  that  my  mother  should  come  and  make  her 
permanent  home  with  us.  But  a  great  surprise  awaited 
us.  We  found  my  mother  acting  as  house-keeper  at  the 
boarding-school,  and  exercising  a  general  watch-care 
over  the  girls.  "  You  see,  George,"  the  dear  lady  said, 
"  when  I  found  that  I  had  no  more  struggling  of  yours, 
either  for  a  fortune  or  a  wife,  to  put  my  heart  into,  I  be- 
gan to  feel  that  some  of  my  life  was  going  out  of  me, 
and  that  I  needed  something  that  was  not  finished,  and 
something  that  would  go  wrong  if  it  was  let  alone,  to 
take  up  my  thoughts.  Well,  the  girls,  who  came  in  one 
after  another  to  take  tea  with  Dolly,  drew  so  many  con- 
trasts between  the  little  dishes  we  had  made  up  and  what 
they  had  at  the  boarding-school,  that  I  got  to  be  very 
anxious  for  them  to  have  more  wholesome  food.  Then 
I  thought  how  easy  it  would  be  to  help  them  about 
giving  their  thoughts  a  better  turn.  I  don't  know  how 
it  would  have  come  out  if  I  had  n't  received  something 
by  mail  which  I  had  requested  Serena  to  send  me,  so 
that  Dolly  could  embroider  a  piece  from  it.  I  will  show 
it  to  you." 

She  brought  out  from  her  portfolio  a  long  strip  of 
paper  and  unfolded  it  for  us.  It  was  a  copy,  in  large  Greek 
characters,  of  Jorman's  motto  :  "  OVH 


"  I  see  how  it  all  came  about,"  I  said. 

"  Of  course  you  do.  You  could  n't  help  seeing  it. 
And  you  must  let  me  have  my  way,  dear  —  for  a  while, 
anyway.  I  shall  always  know  that  you  would  receive  me 
with  open  arms  if  I  should  come  to  you.  The  work  is 
doing  me  a  great  deal  of  good.  I  have  such  a  nice  trial 


264  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

of  my  patience  with  the  servants.  I  find  that  I  have  not 
lost  all  my  temper  by  growing  old.  And  I  think  some  of 
the  girls  are  beginning  to  love  me.  If  you  want  to  sup- 
port me,  as  you  always  have  done,  I  should  like  to  use 
what  I  earn,  to  help  two  or  three  of  the  girls  who  are 
afraid  they  will  have  to  leave  the  school  on  account  of 
the  expense." 

I  had  been  sleeping  some  time,  the  night  after  our  re- 
turn from  this  visit,  when  I  was  aroused  by  a  pretty 
vigorous  pulling  of  my  ear  and  the  question  :  "  Are  you 
wide-awake,  Nolly  ?  " 

"  I  shall  be  pretty  soon  if  you  keep  on,"  I  answered. 

"  I  have  been  thinking  about  something." 

"  That  is  a  remarkable  circumstance.  Shall  I  get  up 
and  light  a  lamp  ?  " 

"  Don't  be  silly  now.  Will  you  teach  me  the  Greek 
alphabet  to-morrow,  so  that  I  can  pick  out  that  '  Ouk 
diako — '?  You  know  what  I  mean." 

"  I  will  do  so  with  great  pleasure." 

"  Nolly,  dear." 

"  Well  ? " 

"  I  have  almost  a  good  mind  to  try  to  be  useful.  Just  a 
little,  you  know.  I  can't  be  like  your  mother,  of  course. 
I  think  I  shall  talk  with  Aunt  Phyllis  to-morrow  and 
have  her  go  and  visit  all  the  tenants'  wives,  and  see  if 
she  can't  get  them  to  be  more  careful  about  their  daugh- 
ters. And  don't  you  think  Uncle  Sim  ought  to  have  a 
new  pair  of  shoes  ?  His  old  ones  are  so  torn  and  run 
down  at  the  heels  they  must  hurt  him.  I  remember 
when  he  used  to  dance  about  with  me  sitting  on  his 
shoulder." 


CHAPTER  XII. 

VISITING    IN     NEW    YORK. 

TV  TY  wife  and  I  got  acquainted  with  each  other  quite 
m  fast.  Neither  of  us  had  ever  practised  self- 
repression  to  a  great  extent  ;  and  I  suppose  that  the 
state  peculiar  to  newly  married  couples  is  highly  favora- 
ble to  spontaneity.  Besides,  we  were  both  inclined  to 
be  talkative,  and  we  had  a  variety  of  practical  questions 
to  consider.  Thus  many  points  in  the  character  of  each 
of  us  were  soon  brought  to  light.  It  was  impossible  that 
there  should  be  long  delay  in  my  wife's  making  one  un- 
pleasant discovery.  The  fact  that  I  was  "  quick-tem- 
pered "  had  been  commented  upon  by  every  one  who 
had  ever  known  me  at  all  intimately.  It  was  chiefly  in 
allusion  to  this  trait  that  Jorman  had  spoken  of  my 
"  internal  pop-guns  "  as  being  "  a  little  too  quick  on  the 
trigger."  He  told  me  afterwards  that  he  had  anticipated 
my  "  flaring  up  with  noticeable  fervor  "  whenever  my 
wife  should  call  my  views  in  question.  He  said  the 
more  ardently  I  loved  her  the  more  sure  I  was  to  be 
exasperated  by  a  failure  on  her  part  to  share  my  senti- 
ments on  any  subject.  Then  he  expatiated  on  what  he 
called  the  "  laws  governing  our  susceptibility  to  percep- 
tion of  sympathy  and  perception  of  the  lack  of  sympa- 
thy." It  turned  out,  on  the  other  hand,  that  my  wife 
was  by  no  means  deficient  in  a  healthy  capacity  for 
resentment  ;  and  an  on-looker  might  have  predicted  that 

265 


266    v  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

our  domestic  life  would  be  marred  by  many  scenes 
which  it  would  be  unpleasant  for  us  to  remember.  I 
fear  that  such  would  have  been  the  case  if  my  wife  had 
been  less  happily  constitued.  She  would  have  been  the 
last  person  in  the  world,  however,  to  convert  an  insig- 
nificant matter  into  a  great  affliction.  Perhaps,  also,  her 
experience  had  given  her  peculiar  fitness  for  dealing 
with  my  special  form  of  perverseness.  From  her  child- 
hood she  had  practised  seeking  out  and  indicating  all 
that  was  bright  in  circumstances  and  prospects  in  order 
to  cheer  her  father.  Hence  there  was  no  danger  of  her 
getting  into  an  unhappy  frame  of  mind  on  account  of 
my  absurd  outbursts.  That  would  have  made  our  case 
very  much  worse,  because  what  I  regard  as  the  needless 
unhappiness  of  those  whom  I  love  is  the  hardest  of 
all  things  for  me  to  bear  patiently.  But,  instead  of  sub- 
jecting me  to  such  a  trial,  she  got  in  the  way  of  counter- 
acting my  anger  by  exciting  my  sense  of  the  ludicrous. 
She  often  assumed  some  comic  role,  and  displayed  a  gift 
which  might  have  made  her  fortune  if  she  had  taken  to 
the  stage.  On  one  occasion  she  hit  on  an  expedient 
which  proved  very  valuable  to  me.  I  had  surpassed  my- 
self in  unreasonableness,  and  she  left  the  room  in  silence. 
While  I  was  pretending  to  read  a  book,  which  might  as 
well  have  been  printed  in  Sanscrit  for  all  the  meaning  I 
was  getting  out  of  it,  she  returned  with  a  slender  little 
switch  which  she  had  taken  from  a  peach-tree.  Then 
she  began  to  talk  about  the  pain  it  gave  her  to  be  com- 
pelled to  chastise  her  little  boy.  She  felt  almost  as  bad 
as  she  did  that  day  when  she  had  eaten  so  many  cucum- 
bers. But  she  must  do  her  duty.  She  could  not  bear 
the  thought  of  having  her  boy  grow  up  to  be  so  naughty 
that  he  would  have  to  be  hung.  No  ;  after  all  her  pride 


VISITING    IN    NEW    YORK.  267 

in  him  and  her  bright  hopes  of  him,  she  could  not  have 
him  make  such  an  exhibition  of  himself.  She  had 
thought  that  she  might  live  to  see  him  the  driver  of  a 
four-mule  team,  and  had  even  dreamed  of  his  going  to 
the  city  and  getting  to  be  an  excellent  hand  at  opening 
oysters.  After  all  these  things,  her  consenting  to  his 
being  hung  was  out  of  the  question.  What  would  people 
think  ?  It  was  so  improper  for  a  man  to  climb  up  to  the 
top  of  a  gallows  and  have  himself  hung.  It  was  so  con- 
trary to  the  rules  of  good  society  for  a  gentleman  to  have 
himself  held  perpendicular  by  a  rope  around  his  neck. 
Everybody  knew  that  when  a  gentleman  was  perpendic- 
ular in  good  society  he  had  his  feet  touching  something. 

She  ran  on  in  this  way  until  she  had  me  rolling  on  the 
carpet  in  a  fit  of  laughter,  from  which  it  took  me  a  long 
time  to  recover  ;  and  the  scene  got  itself  so  intimately 
associated  in  my  mind  with  unreasonable  anger  that  I 
usually  began  to  laugh  before  I  had  time  to  scold.  The 
peach-tree  switch  was  laid  on  top  of  a  "  whatnot  "  near 
my  writing-table,  and  it  lies  there  to-day. 

Early  in  the  summer  Jorman  wrote  me  a  letter,  from 
which  I  make  the  following  extract  : 

"  Let  it  be  set  down  that  your  adorable  and  her  adorer 
are  to  make  their  home  in  the  old  Jorman  house  during 
July  and  August.  That  is,  we  will  all  have  this  house 
for  our  base  of  operations,  and  make  as  many  raids  on 
proximitous  resorts  as  we  please.  But  if  I  succeed  in  my 
experiment,  we  shall  be  apt  to  stick  pretty  closely  to  the 
old  house.  Just  think  of  my  attempting  an  experiment 
in  the  realm  of  matter.  It  came  about  in  this  way  :  I 
happened  to  pick  up  a  little  twenty- cent  book  entitled 
'  Science  in  Short  Chapters,'  and  to  read  a  description  of 
the  plan  on  which  the  English  coal-mines  are  ventilated. 


268  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

The  thing  interested  me,  and  led  me  to  ask  :  '  Why  can't 
a  house  be  ventilated  after  that  fashion  ? '  I  have  no 
head  for  such  things,  as  you  are  very  well  aware,  and 
perhaps  I  am  making  a  fool  of  myself.  But  I  have  got 
started  in,  and  I  am  going  to  go  ahead.  I  am  building  a 
big  tower  at  the  rear  of  my  house,  and  am  going  to  have 
it  extend  some  feet  above  the  highest  point  in  the  roof. 
Near  the  top  of  the  tower  I  am  going  to  have  a  tank  for 
ice-water,  and  one  of  those  wheels  with  pegs  in  the  peri- 
phery for  elevating  ice.  Connected  with  the  tank 
there  is  to  be  a  set  of  iron  pipes  enclosed  in  a  tight  box 
which  will  extend  from  the  top  of  the  tower  to  the 
ground.  This  box  will  be  in  a  corner  of  the  tower,  and 
on  top  of  it  will  be  fitted  one  of  those  big  revolving  air- 
funnels  which  always  face  the  wind.  About  twelve  feet 
from  the  bottom  of  the  tower  there  will  be  a  tight  floor 
with  a  trap-door  in  it,  which  can  be  raised  when  we  are 
lifting  the  ice.  You  see  we  shall  have  quite  a  big  cham- 
ber for  cold  air.  This  will  be  connected  by  air-pipes 
with  some  of  the  rooms  which  will  be  so  closed  up  as  to 
receive  but  little  air  from  any  other  quarter.  These 
rooms  will  be  connected  by  other  air-pipes  with  a  smoke- 
stack in  the  corner  of  the  tower  diagonally  across  from 
the  box  of  pipes.  I  am  having  a  fellow  contrive  a  fur- 
nace to  be  placed  in  the  smoke-stack.  He  says  he  can 
get  up  a  '  thundering  heat,'  and  leave  a  plenty  of  room 
for  the  passage  of  air.  I  don't  see  why  I  can't  get  a 
pretty  big  volume  of  tolerably  cool  air  into  the  rooms. 
And  it  ought  to  be  a  good  deal  purer  than  the  air  which  has 
just  been  kissing  the  mud.  If  it  is  desiccated  too  much 
we  must  manage  to  have  evaporation  going  on  some- 
where. If  necessary,  I  can  get  some  one  to  contrive  a 
device  for  letting  in  steam  which  has  been  cooled  till  it  is 


VISITING    IN    NEW    YORK.  269 

on  the  point  of  condensation.  Of  course  the  water  in 
the  pipes  will  have  to  be  changed  pretty  often,  but  it 
won't  be  enormously  expensive  to  have  a  specialist  de- 
voting all  his  time  to  the  regulation  of  our  climate.  He 
can  be  peeking  through  a  pane  of  glass  at  thermometers, 
barometers,  hygrometers,  and  every  thing  of  that  sort. 
Don't  you  see  what  a  scientist  I  am  getting  to  be  ?  The 
leaders  of  modern  thought  had  better  look  out  for  their 
laurels.  If  you  forget  our  number,  just  walk  along  the 
south  side  of  West  34th  Street,  with  your  face  toward 
the  home  of  the  polar-bear,  till  you  see  a  tower  topped 
off  with  a  smoke-stack  and  a  revolving  air-funnel." 

This  invitation  was  highly  acceptable  to  us.  It  is  true 
that  my  wife  evinced  some  trepidation  at  the  prospect  of 
going  for  the  first  time  among  residents  of  a  great  North- 
ern city.  She  seemed  to  take  it  for  granted  that  I  should 
have  a  feeling  similar  to  one  of  which  she  had  been  con- 
scious, and  which  had  caused  us  some  trouble.  It  was 
an  anxiety,  just  a  little  morbid,  as  to  the  impression 
which  I  should  make  on  her  South  Carolina  acquaint- 
ances. Such  a  feeling  leads,  of  course,  to  more  or  less 
of  such  exacting  criticism  as  one  dislikes  to  encounter. 
But  my  wife  had  no  reason  to  apprehend  that  I  should 
experience  any  uneasiness  of  that  nature.  I  knew  that 
she  would  be  none  other  than  her  charming  self,  and 
that  she  would  appear  to  be  precisely  what  she  was.  It 
was  certain  that  she  would  never  excite  a  smile  by  "  putting 
on  airs,"  nor  display  ignorance  by  attempting  to  appear 
especially  bright.  Whatever  might  be  her  self-distrust,  on 
any  occasion,  I  knew  the  command  which  she  held  over 
her  nerves  would  keep  her  from  attracting  attention  by 
an  appearance  of  embarrassment. 

We  reached  New  York  early  in  July,  and  I  need  not 


270  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

dwell  on  the  heartiness  of  our  welcome.  Though  my 
wife  had  never  met  the  ladies  of  the  household,  she  had 
drawn  from  me  the  materials  for  so  distinct  a  conception 
of  them,  and  they  had  so  often  heard  Jorman  describe 
her  appearance  and  expatiate  on  her  characteristics,  that 
the  meeting  was  more  like  that  of  old  friends  than  of 
strangers.  There  was  nothing  to  hinder  an  immediate 
revelation  of  my  wife's  constitutional  joyousness,  and  on 
the  second  morning  Jorman  was  prepared  to  greet  her 
with  the  question  :  "  How  is  Felicita  this  morning  ?  " 

"  There,"  said  Kitty,  "  I  knew  Uncle  Psycho  would 
get  the  right  name  for  you.  But  we  must  shorten  it, 
just  as  he  shortened  Mr.  Bidrop's  name  from  Knowledge- 
compeller  to  Nolly.  What  shall  it  be  ?  Feley  ?  No,  I 
don't  like  that.  Oh  !  I  am  going  to  call  you  Lissey  ; 
and  I  am  going  to  remember  it  means  that  you  are  al- 
ways happy  yourself  and  always  making  every  one  else 
happy." 

This  name  was  adopted  by  general  consent ;  and  it 
has  become  a  very  sweet  name  to  me.  Kitty,  from  the 
very  outset,  evinced  a  vehement  liking  for  my  wife.  The 
intimation,  in  Kitty's  presence,  that  "Lissey"  was  less 
beautiful  than  some  other  woman,  or  inferior  in  any  re- 
spect, was  sure  to  bring  on  a  scene.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  was  a  full  appreciation  of  those  characteristics 
which  had  won  the  apellation,  "  Miss  Loyalty," — ab- 
breviated by  my  wife  to  "  Loyey."  When  they  were 
both  in  a  prankish  mood,  which  was  quite  often,  they 
satisfied  all  our  desires  in  the  way  of  mirth  provoking, 
Kitty  found  satisfaction  in  telling  "all  her  heart  "  to  my 
wife  ;  and  I  soon  came  to  understand  that  some  trouble- 
some apprehensions  were  mingling  with  her  thoughts  of 
Orrin  Barleck.  She  had  no  fear  of  his  ever  ceasing  to 


VISITING    IN    NEW    YORK.  271 

love  her.  But  she  felt  that,  as  to  the  nature  of  his  future 
career,  all  was  uncertainty.  She  saw  that  there  was 
something  in  him  which  made  it  quite  probable  that  his 
way  of  life  would  be  different  from  that  of  clergymen  in 
general.  She  knew  that  he  was  capable  of  sacrificing 
popular  favor  to  his  convictions.  "  I  don't  think  I  'm  cut 
out  for  a  martyr,"  she  said  ;  "  but,  if  Orrin  chooses 
martyrdom  for  us,  I  am  ready  to  share  it  with  him,  and 
I  won't  let  anybody  say  he  's  foolish." 

I  learned  from  Jorman  that  none  of  the  family  were 
free  from  misgivings  on  this  subject.  "  I  am  afraid,"  he 
said,  "that  Miss  Loyalty's  big  heart  is  destined  to  be 
badly  wrenched.  It  is  certain  to  my  mind  that  Orrin 
will  be  classed  as  an  impracticable  enthusiast  as  soon  as 
he  gets  started  out  in  his  work,  but  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  foreseeing  what  particular  tangent  he  will  go  off 
on.  He  has  been  drifting  out  of  the  atmosphere  of 
hyper-Calvinism,  and  is  getting  to  be  all  taken  up  with 
the  character  and  missionary  work  of  Paul.  He  said, 
the  last  time  he  was  here,  that  a  life  like  Paul's  was  the 
only  one  it  was  worth  a  man's  while  to  live.  I  see,  also, 
that  he  is  becoming  enamoured  of  poverty,  and,  if  his  for- 
tune were  under  his  own  control,  I  should  expect  him  to 
give  it  all  away  very  soon.  But  it  is  so  tied  up  that  he 
can  use  only  the  income  of  it,  which  amounts  to  about 
$3,000  a  year." 

I  could  perceive  no  change  in  Mrs.  Jorman,  except  an 
obvious  deepening  of  her  tranquil  happiness,  and  the 
natural  effects  of  new  responsibilities.  Her  talk  was  still 
limited,  for  the  most  part,  to  timely  and  fruitful  sugges- 
tions. Her  house-keeping  was  so  systematized  that  it 
seemed  to  go  on  of  itself  :  and  any  thing  that  was  wanted 
could  be  produced  in  a  moment.  In  the  matter  of  little 


272  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

civilities,  she  quietly  and  smilingly  assumed  that  it  was 
no  part  of  her  husband's  duty  to  think  of  them.  When 
any  subject  of  interest  was  engaging  his  thoughts,  he 
could  never  observe  whether  his  guests  were  sitting  or 
standing,  or  whether  their  plates  were  full  or  empty  ;  but 
the  civilities  were  always  extended  in  the  most  agreeable 
manner  ;  and  Jorman's  abstraction  was  thought  of  only 
as  a  pleasing  feature  of  the  household  life. 

From  nine  to  twelve  o'clock,  every  morning,  the  master 
and  mistress  of  the  house  were  closeted  together  in  what 
they  called  their  "  working  room,"  which  adjoined  the 
library.  I  gathered  that  they  were  occupied  chiefly,  at 
those  hours,  in  comparing  modes  of  beneficence,  and  in  des- 
ignating the  resources  at  their  immediate  command,  with  a 
view  to  meeting  what  they  saw  to  be  the  most  pressing 
needs.  Jorman  told  me  that  he  had  kept  Tom  Clonmell 
employed  nearly  two  months,  the  previous  winter,  in  col- 
lecting information  as  to  the  organized  charities  of  the  city. 

I  was  interested  in  my  friend's  account  of  the  consid- 
erations which  had  influenced  the  selection  of  a  church 
for  the  family.  "  I  had  no  old  associations  that  made 
me  care  much  more  for  one  denomination  than  I  did  for 
another,"  he  said.  "  But  the  case  was  different  with 
Serena.  She  says  she  was  a  zealous  sectarian  when  she 
was  a  little  girl.  She  is  pretty  well  over  that  now.  Of 
course,  though,  her  old  ties  have  a  good  deal  of  strength 
yet,  and  I  told  her  the  matter  of  our  denomination  was 
settled  at  the  outset.  In  fact,  I  soon  got  to  being  glad 
that  her  hereditary  church  relations  were  just  what  they 
were.  I  don't  know  much  about  the  distinctive  tenets 
of  the  different  religious  bodies,  and  I  have  no  sense  of 
duty  driving  me  to  make  a  study  of  them.  But  1  am  so 
much  of  an  old  fogy  that  the  maintenance  of  what  seems 


VISITING    IN    NEW    YORK.  273 

to  me  to  have  been  the  original  style  of  the  ordinances, 
and  their  original  order  of  precedence,  commends  itself 
to  my  taste.  Well,  the  next  thing  was  to  determine 
whether  we  would  unite  with  a  congregation  composed 
almost  exclusively  of  poor  people  with  limited  culture  or 
with  a  different  congregation  up-town.  In  one  point  of 
view  it  was  plain  that  the  poor  church  needed  us  most  ; 
but  it  did  n't  take  us  long  to  see  that  we  should  always 
be  at  liberty  to  help  a  poor  church  with  our  money 
whether  we  were  members  of  it  or  not.  We  went  over 
the  ground  very  thoroughly,  and  made  pictures  of  our- 
selves in  both  positions.  We  saw  that  we  might  easily 
become  a  disturbing  force  in  the  poor  congregation,  or, 
at  least  an  obstacle  to  the  inter-flow  which  depends  on 
congeniality,  and  that  we  should  be  in  danger  of  being 
suspected  of  a  disposition  to  "  run  things  "  because  we 
were  rich.  Then,  as  to  our  personal  influence,  Serena 
said  that  the  rich  needed  that  kind  of  help  quite  as  much 
as  the  poor  did,  and  that  in  view  of  the  greater  power  of 
persons  in  easy  circumstances,  an  influence  for  good 
upon  them  seemed  to  be  more  important  to  the  world 
than  it  would  be  if  exerted  upon  persons  who  were  less 
able  to  bring  about  results.  Finally  it  came  to  our  view 
that  what  should  be  the  decisive  consideration,  after  all, 
had  to  do  with  the  effect  of  our  surroundings,  and  of  the 
services  which  we  should  attend,  upon  our  own  person- 
alities. The  upshot  of  the  matter  was  that  we  joined  a 
congregation  where  our  money  is  not  needed,  and  put  it 
in  the  power  of  a  poor  church  to  employ  a  more  efficient 
pastor  than  it  could  have  had  without  our  help.  There 
is  no  doubt  about  our  being  right.  I  can  see  that  Serena 
is  gradually  making  herself  felt  among  the  ladies  of  our 
congregation,  and  you  know  what  that  means." 


274  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

During  the  working  hours  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jorman  I 
was  usually  engaged  in  conducting  my  wife  and  Kitty  to 
various  points  in  the  city  and  helping  them  to  study  the 
objects  of  interest.  After  lunch  Jorman  and  I  were  in 
the  habit  of  going  for  a  while  to  his  room  in  Tenth 
Street  ;  and  he  favored  me  with  many  of  his  peculiar 
talks.  On  one  occasion  he  surprised  me  by  saying  :  "  I 
wish  we  could  repeat  that  Mackopah  strike." 

"  Why,"  said  I,  "  I  thought  the  money  coming  from 
that  source  was  going  to  be  a  great  burden  to  you." 

"  Yes,"  he  responded,  laughingly,  "  I  thought  so  too, 
at  first.  But  I  could  n't  have  been  expected  to  care 
about  having  more  money  so  soon  after  my  conversion. 
I  have  been  growing,  you  know.  It  don't  take  many 
weeks  of  hunting  after  beneficent  uses  of  money  to  make 
a  man  feel  that  he  would  like  to  have  the  wealth  of  all 
the  Rothschilds  at  his  disposal.  Serena  and  I  are  con- 
stantly racking  our  brains  to  find  out  how  we  can  make 
the  little  we  have  to  give  most  productive.  I  am  revolv- 
ing a  plan  for  bringing  some  of  my  rich  acquaintances 
into  co-operation  with  us.  They  have  got  to  come  down 
with  their  greenbacks  sooner  or  later.  This  thing  of 
ministering  is  a  tremendous  matter.  The  worst  of  it  is 
that  you  can't  give  people  the  help  they  are  most  in  need 
of  by  the  use  of  money,  except  in  an  indirect  and  hap- 
hazard way,  which  always  leaves  you  in  doubt  as  to 
whether  any  good  is  going  to  be  accomplished  or  not. 
It  is  easy  enough  to  furnish  a  man  with  something  which 
will  make  the  outside  of  his  head  comfortable,  but  an 
all-killing  hard  job  to  do  any  thing  for  the  inside  of  it. 
This  thing  upsets  my  patience  every  time  I  get  to  think- 
ing about  it.  A  man  has  no  business  to  be  a  fool.  A 
fellow's  acquiescence  in  his  own  stupidity  is  one  of  the 


VISITING    IN    NEW    YORK.  275 

most  rascally  things  of  which  he  can  be  guilty.  The 
overshadowing  vice  of  the  civilized  world  is  the  intellec- 
tual laziness  which  keeps  men  from  meditating  on  their 
own  needs.  Well,  all  we  can  do  with  this  vice  is  to 
'  keep  pegging  away  '  at  it,  as  Lincoln  did  at  the  rebel- 
lion. We  must  hope  that,  some  time,  there  will  be  a 
better  understanding  of  the  responsibility  inseparable  , 
from  a  power  to  think.  For  bringing  this  about  we  must 
rely  chiefly  on  the  pulpit  and  the  press.  But  how  large 
a  part  of  the  press  indicates  any  appreciation  of  that 
responsibility  ?  Don't  you  suppose  that  more  than  half 
the  writers  for  the  public  are  ready  to  echo  the  idiotic 
sentiment,  that  a  man  is  never  to  be  blamed  for  his  opin- 
ions ?  Besides,  most  of  these  writers  feel  the  necessity 
of  allowing  the  characters  of  their  productions  to  be 
governed  by  the  popular  demand  ;  and  how  much  of  a 
demand  is  there  for  writings  which  will  set  men  to  ask- 
ing, with  thoroughgoing  earnestness,  What  are  our  needs  ? 
Take  the  pulpit  now.  How  many  sermons  did  you  ever 
hear  in  which  the  duty  of  intellectual  industry  was  in- 
sisted on  ?  The  preachers  are  doing  a  work  of  incalcu- 
lable magnitude  in  getting  men  headed  in  the  right 
direction.  If  they  should  withdraw  from  the  field  the 
world  would  soon  go  to  the  bow-wows.  But  they  are 
not  doing  what  they  ought  to  do  for  the  understandings 
of  men.  The  trouble  is  that  they  don't  see  to  what  a 
measureless  extent  a  man's  eternal  welfare  depends  on 
the  development  of  his  intellectual  power.  They  have 
no  just  apprehension  of  the  relation  between  the  head 
and  the  heart.  It  will  be  understood,  one  of  these  days, 
that  a  theological  education,  which  leaves  psychology' 
out  of  sight,  is  quite  as  defective  as  a  medical  education  \ 
without  either  anatomy  or  physiology  would  be." 


276  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

One  day,  when  Tom  Clonmell  was  present,  Jorman 
looked  up  from  his  newspaper  and  remarked  :  "  So  the 
Senator  and  the  General  are  going  up  to  the  Thousand 
Islands  for  a  little  fishing.  I  would  give  a  hundred 
dollars  for  a  record  of  one  of  their  frank  colloquies  on 
politics." 

"  You  shall  have  it,"  Tom  exclaimed.  "  I  've  been 
thinking  about  going  up  there  for  a  little  fun  myself." 

"  Will  you  sit  down  at  a  table,  with  pencil  and  paper, 
and  tell  them  to  proceed  ?  " 

"  Oh,  no.  I  see  how  I  can  manage  to  hear  a  colloquy  ; 
but  I  sha'n't  write  a  word  till  afterwards." 

"  A  very  accurate  report  you  would  give." 

"  Suppose  you  try  me,  and  see  if  I  can  report  a  con- 
versation between  you  and  George." 

Tom  lit  a  cigar  and  sat  down  in  a  lazy  attitude,  with  a 
newspaper  in  his  hands. 

"  Well,  Nolly,  what  subject  shall  we  discuss  ?  "  Jorman 
asked. 

"  It  might  be  well  to  make  some  remarks  on  bees- 
wax," I  replied. 

"  Ah,  yes.  Beeswax — a  momentous  subject,  with  mani- 
fold bearings.  We  will  consider  it  historically,  in  the 
first  place.  Then  we  will  take  a  scientific  view  of  it. 
This  will  require  us  to  trace  the  evolution  of  the  bee 
from  the  tadpole,  and  to  point  out  the  precise  way  in 
which  natural  selection  originated  the  proclivity  to  wax- 
making.  Finally,  we  will  treat  of  the  various  uses  of 
beeswax  in  the  arts.  But  first — historically.  Do  you 
remember  what  author  made  the  earliest  mention  of 
beeswax  ?  " 

"I  think  it  was  Eli  Perkins,  nineteen  hundred  and 
seven  years  before  the  Hegira." 


VISITING    IN    NEW    YORK.  277 

"  I  believe  you  are  correct  ;  and  I  remember  that 
Xenophon,  in  the  Anabasis,  spoke  of  finding  it  in  com- 
bination with  some  other  ingredients." 

We  talked  in  that  style  some  twenty  minutes  ;  and 
then  Tom,  who  had  appeared  to  be  reading  very  atten- 
tively all  the  time,  wrote  out  a  report  in  which  neither  of 
us  could  detect  an  error.  I  was  inclined  to  think  that 
he  would  manage  in  some  way  to  make  good  his  prom- 
ise ;  but  the  matter  had  nearly  passed  from  our  minds 
when  we  received  the  following  report  : 

"  To  THE  HONORABLE,  THE  PSYCHOLOGIST  AND  THE 
KNOWLEDGE-COMPELLER. 

"  GENTLEMEN  : — Having  ascertained  that  the  Senator 
and  the  General  would  strike  for  the  Bay,  I  telegraphed 
a  friend  of  mine  at  that  place  to  buy  me  the  best  boat  in 
the  market,  with  oars  and  fishing  tackle,  and  received 
the  answer  :  '  Boat  and  equipment  secured.'  I  shad- 
owed my  victims  and  became  their  co-passenger  on  the 
train,  dressed  in  character  and  bent  on  having  a  little 
fling  as  a  jolly  Paddy.  At  a  point  in  the  road  which  my 
scintillating  genius  had  selected  as  a  locus  faciendi,  I  ap- 
proached the  distinguished  gentlemen  and  made  known 
my  willingness  to  place  myself  and  my  boat  at  their  ser- 
vice. They  looked  me  over  and  drew  forth  some  replies 
which  disclosed  my  good  nature  and  my  refreshing  sim- 
plicity ;  and  they  caught  a  glimpse  of  my  surpassing 
merits.  My  services  were  engaged.  That  night  I  took 
possession  of  my  boat  and  its  equipment.  When  I 
arose  the  next  morning  I  saw  that  meteorological  con- 
ditions would  favor  piscatorial  proceedings.  I  went  to  a 
butcher's  shop  and  purchased  a  pound  of  bloody  beef. 
I  divested  myself  of  my  vest,  and  imparted  a  distinctly 


278  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

observable  bloodiness  to  the  right  side  of  my  shirt-front. 
I  resumed  and  buttoned  my  vest,  and  the  bloodiness  be- 
came invisible.  I  am  not  commissioned  to  record  the 
exploits  and  the  jocose  remarks  of  the  mighty  fishermen. 
Our  dinner  was  upon  an  island,  and  I  cooked  the  pick- 
erel with  exceeding  skill.  After  other  hours  of  successful 
and  unsuccessful  trolling,  the  declining  sun  admonished 
us  to  take  in  the  lines  and  move  rapidly  Bayward.  Then, 
once  more,  I  divested  myself  of  my  vest,  whereupon  the 
General  exclaimed  :  '  Why,  Tom,  you  have  got  on  the 
bloody  shirt  ! ' 

"  As  I,  in  much  confusion,  was  blundering  out  an  ex- 
planation, the  following  colloquy  began  : 

"  Senator — In  hoc  signo  vinces. 

"  General — You  think  we  can  conquer  under  that 
banner  once  more,  do  you  ? 

"  Senator — Undoubtedly.  But,  whatever  our  hopes  or 
fears,  the  necessity  of  waving  it  is  imperative.  We  are  in 
no  condition  for  a  defensive  campaign.  Our  entire  line 
of  battle  is  flecked  with  vulnerable  positions.  Some  as- 
tounding facts  have  recently  come  to  my  knowledge. 
The  maintenance  of  an  espionage  upon  the  administra- 
tive branch  of  the  public  service  has  never  had  a  place 
among  my  occupations.  I  am  not  continually  haunting 
the  departments.  That  is  the  congenial  work  of  such 
senators  as  are  conscious  of  unfitness  for  legitimate  sen- 
atorial duties.  I  indicate  my  wishes  in  regard  to  posi- 
tions for"  my  friends  ;  and  I  have  reasons  for  believing 
that,  in  many  instances,  my  requests  have  been  complied 
with  promptly,  in  order  that  occasion  for  my  visiting  the 
departments  personally  might  be  precluded.  As  for  the 
corruptionists,  by  whose  arts  the  public  service  has  been 
debauched,  they  are  thoroughly  aware  that  I  should 


VISITING    IN    NEW    YORK.  279 

trample  them  under  foot  as  I  would  so  many  vipers,  if 
they  should  appear  in  my  presence  with  ignoble  sugges- 
tions. You  readily  apprehend,  therefore,  why  I  have 
but  recently  received  knowledge  of  the  forbidden  work 
which  has  been  in  progress. 

"  General — You  think,  then,  it  is  necessary  to  make 
our  people  so  angry  with  the  South  that  they  will  give 
no  attention  to  exposures  of  evil  practices  in  the  admin- 
istrative service  ? 

"  Senator — Most  assuredly.  So  long  as  our  front  em- 
braces these  vulnerable  positions,  our  only  hope  lies  in 
keeping  the  North  arrayed  against  the  South.  While  we 
do  this  our  overthrow  is  impossible,  for  the  simple  reason 
that  the  North  has  an  overwhelming  preponderance  both 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  and  in  the  Electoral 
College. 

"  General — There  are  some  signs  which  indicate  a 
growing  weariness  of  the  sectional  issue  among  our 
people. 

"  Senator — Oh,  that  of  course.  A  long  spasm  of  popu- 
lar fury  is  necessarily  followed  by  a  reaction.  But  the 
craziness  is  renewed  very  easily  when  the  proper  machin- 
ery is  set  in  motion.  However  impervious  to  other 
sentiments  the  masses  may  be,  they  are  always  ready  to 
get  angry.  This  is  true  especially  of  the  religious  peo- 
ple. They  are  never  fully  satisfied  unless  they  are  con- 
signing foes  to  hell.  Before  this  contest  shall  have 
progressed  very  far,  you  will  find  the  ministers  beginning 
to  '  see  red,'  like  Eugene  Sue's  coutcaurier.  The 
shepherds  will  soon  change  their  sheep  and  lambs  into 
war-horses  that  will  smell  the  battle  afar  off,  and  paw 
and  snort  at  the  thunder  of  the  captains  and  the  shouting. 

"  General — Your  remark  about  the  ministers  reminds 


280  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

me  that  Bixtell  expects  ministerial  aid  of  another  kind  in 
his  race  for  Congress. 

"  Senator — How  is  that  ? 

"  General — I  have  been  told  that  a  minister  is  to  bring 
out  the  fact  that  Adderlow,  in  his  bachelor  days,  made 
one  of  those  slips  that  you  don't  allow  to  be  talked  about 
in  your  presence. 

"  Senator — What  !  Do  you  say  that  Bixtell  is  cogni- 
zant of  that  design  ? 

"  General — As  I  understand,  he  is  the  instigator  of  the 
revelation. 

"  Senator — Then,  I  swear,  I  will  have  him  beaten. 
He  understands  thoroughly  that  no  man  can  be  sent  to 
Congress  from  that  district  without  my  consent  ;  and  I 
will  never  consent  to  the  election  of  any  man  by  a  de- 
vice so  low  and  putrescent.  Parading  before  households 
and  mixed  multitudes  such  matter  as  a  gentleman  hastens 
to  put  out  of  sight  in  his  hours  of  utmost  privacy  ! 
Pah  !  I  wish  my  party  to  have  a  majority  in  the  House, 
but  not  at  such  cost  as  that. 

"  General — Do  you  contemplate  dealing  personally  in 
this  canvass  with  the  reports  of  Southern  outrages  ? 

"  Senator — No  ;  I  shall  have  nothing  to  do  with  them. 
Each  man  must  perform  the  work  for  which  he  is  equip- 
ped. My  arguments,  I  hope,  will  be  such  as  become  a 
statesman.  I  shall  argue  that  the  North  ought  to  be  the 
governing  section,  because  most  of  the  national  revenue 
is  collected  in  the  North. 

"  General — Does  that  argument  bear  convincing  force 
to  your  own  mind  ? 

"  Senator — Your  question  is  not  at  all  pertinent.  The 
point  to  be  determined  is  the  probable  weight  of  an 
argument  with  those  to  whom  it  is  addressed.  Whether 


VISITING    IN    NEW    YORK.  281 

it  has  irresistible  force  or  is  all  bosh,  in  the  speaker's 
apprehension,  is  wholly  void  of  consequence.  The  sole 
business  of  the  orator  is  to  produce  the  convictions  and 
awaken  the  sentiments  which  will  advance  his  cause. 
To  do  this  effectively,  he  must  always  bear  in  mind  the 
difference  between  his  own  intelligence  and  the  average 
intelligence  of  his  hearers. 

"  General — You  apprehend  no  trouble  from  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  reformers,  I  conclude  ? 

"  Senator — By  no  means.  The  precious  sentimental- 
ists entertain  us  with  a  few  theatrical  episodes  in  our 
conventions,  and  air  their  chaste  rhetoric  through  the 
press.  But  they  will  be  all  in  line  at  the  opening  of  the 
real  battle ;  and  the  remembrance  of  their  preliminary 
expostulations  will  enable  them  to  prevent  defections 
among  their  elegant  little  followers.  Let  them  come  to 
our  conventions,  and  be  voted  down  as  often  as  they 
choose  We  can  rely  on  their  Bourbonism  to  keep  them 
from  affiliating  with  a  party  which  they  have  spent  their 
lives  in  denouncing.  Besides,  almost  to  a  man,  they  are 
exceedingly  susceptible  to  the  magic  of  the  bloody  shirt. 

"  General — Is  there  not  some  truth  in  their  allegation 
that,  under  the  present  system,  our  government  is  not  a 
government  by  the  people  ? 

"  Senator — Undoubtedly  there  is.  These  gentlemen 
plume  themselves  on  their  sagacity  in  having  made  this 
discovery.  But  the  fact  has  long  been  entirely  familiar 
to  all  practical  men  who  are  favored  with  any  breadth 
of  intelligence.  The  theory  of  a  government  by  the  peo- 
ple is  very  poetical  ;  it  is  gratifying  to  the  vanity  of  the 
masses,  and  its  general  acceptance  is  to  be  encouraged. 
It  is  a  serviceable  illusion.  This  country  is  governed  by 
a  company,  large  or  small,  of  men  proficient  in  practical 


282  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

politics,  who  know  how  to  utilize  the  passions  of  the 
ignorant  multitudes.  In  a  national  contest,  an  army  of 
politicians  who  hold  the  offices  is  arrayed  against  an 
army  of  politicians  who  want  the  offices  ;  and  the  popu- 
lar vote,  as  some  one  said  of  Providence,  accords  the 
victory  to  the  side  which  carries  the  heaviest  artillery. 

"  General — We  have  some  obvious  advantages  on  that 
score.  I  understand  that  arrangements  for  collecting 
assessments  upon  the  office-holders  are  very  complete, 
and  that  very  rigid  discipline  is  to  be  enforced.  Some 
of  the  millionaires  and  protected  manufacturers  also 
speak  very  encouragingly. 

"  Senator — Oh,  yes.  In  the  matter  of  financial  ammu- 
nition we  have  an  excess  over  the  enemy's  resources, 
amounting  to  as  many  millions  as  we  choose  to  ask  for. 
But  that  is  not  our  chief  advantage.  Our  incomparable 
point  of  superiority  lies  in  the  circumstance  that  we  have 
a  vast  army  of  trained  workers,  thoroughly  organized, 
impelled  by  the  keenest  self-interest,  and  paid  from  the 
\  national  treasury  for  serving  our  cause.  In  every  nook 
and  corner  of  every  State  in  the  Union  we  have  such  a 
worker  on  guard.  Wherever  there  is  a  little  post-office 
the  government  is  maintaining  a  man  who  will  do  our 
bidding,  and  one  who  knows  that  his  official  security  is 
conditioned  on  his  political  fidelity. 

"  General — With  all  these  advantages  it  would  seem 
that  we  ought  to  be  able  to  dispense  with  the  sectional 
issue. 

"  Senator — Not  just  yet.  If  you  had  seen  the  vulner- 
able places  in  our  line  as  they  have  been  revealed  to  me, 
you  would  appreciate  the  necessity  of  a  furious  onslaught. 
When  we  shall  have  gained  one  or  two  more  national 
victories,  battle-cries  will  be  of  little  importance.  We 


VISITING    IN    NEW    YORK.  283 

need  a  few  additional  years  in  which  to  solidify  our 
strength,  to  perfect  our  Organization,  and  to  see  every 
important  post  occupied  by  a  skilled  disciplinarian. 
Then  the  leaders  of  our  party  will  constitute  a  self-per- 
petuating body  which  can  never  be  driven  from  power. 

"  The  cheering  prospect,  brought  into  view  by  these 
last  words,  gave  birth  to  a  period  of  silent  contempla- 
tion. As  we  were  nearing  the  Bay  the  Senator  asked  : 
'  Is  your  deal  in  the  city  fully  arranged  ? ' 

"  '  Very  nearly  so,'  the  General  answered.  '  There  is 
one  point,  however,  which  is  giving  me  some  trouble. 
The  old  man  insists  on  having  Billy's  place  for  one  of 
his  heelers  ;  and  Billy  threatens  to  kick  if  he  is  dropped 
out.  He  is  capable  of  doing  us  a  great  deal  of  harm.' 

"  '  That  is  the  only  point  now  in  controversy,  is  it  ?  ' 

"  '  Yes  ;  every  thing  else  is  settled  very  satisfactorily.' 

"  '  Well,  we  must  make  a  place  at  the  Federal  crib  for 
Billy.  Let  him  spot  an  official  who  is  doing  us  no  good, 
and  we  will  create  a  vacancy.' 

"  Thus  ended  the  colloquy. 

"  Respectfully  submitted, 

"  TOM  CLONMELL." 

"  Well,"  said  Mr.  Jorman,  after  he  had  read  this  report 
two  or  three  times,  "  this  is  a  more  valuable  revelation 
than  I  expected.  It  is  very  rich  in  psychological  inter- 
est. For  producing  certain  classes  of  effects  the  Senator 
is  one  of  the  ablest  men  in  America.  I  have  sometimes 
thought  him  to  be  the  very  ablest.  And  yet  this  colloquy 
makes  it  plain  that,  as  to  general  ability  for  the  ascer- 
tainment of  truth,  his  superior  can  be  picked  up  at  any 
street-corner.  Although  his  intellectual  power  is  mag- 
nificent in  volume,  his  intellectual  greatness  is  altogether 
fragmentary.  He  is  wholly  destitute  of  tranquil  wisdom, 


284  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

and  this  for  the  reason  that  he  has  never  systematically 
trained  himself  to  the  use  of  the  wise  man's  keys." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  '  the  wise  man's  keys  '  ? "  I 
asked. 

"  The  key  to  contemplative  wisdom  is  the  question, 
What  is  true  ?  The  key  to  practical  wisdom  is,  What 
is  right  ?  The  two  kinds  of  wisdom  shade  into  each 
other,  and  are  often  thoroughly  blended  ;  but  no  man 
can  be  wise — no  man  can  have  an  intellect  worth  a  fig 
for  the  highest  offices  of  the  intellect — without  strenuous 
self-discipline,  having  for  its  end  the  maintenance  of 
preeminence  among  his  impulses  by  a  desire  to  know 
the  simple  truth  and  a  desire  to  do  right.  The  Senator's 
theory  concerning  the  orator's  legitimate  work  is  the 
theory  of  an  ignoramus.  If  he  had  taken  the  first  step 
in  ethical  science,  he  would  recoil  with  horror  from  the 
raising  of  the  sectional  issue  as  a  political  expedient,  and 
he  would  see  that  nothing  but  moral  baseness  can  ac- 
count for  the  production  of  such  a  misleading  argument 
as  he  proposes  to  make." 

"  Still,  the  Senator  gives  evidence  in  this  colloquy  of 
the  possession  of  some  very  elevated  moral  principles." 

"  Oh,  Nolly,  those  are  not  principles  that  are  disclosed 
here.  They  are  mere  repugnances.  It  is  highly  to  his 
credit,  of  course,  that  corruption  and  jobbery,  with  a 
view  to  money-making,  are  insufferably  offensive  to  his 
taste,  and  that  the  political  utilization  of  obscenity 
awakens  his  wrath.  His  manifestation  of  these  senti- 
ments is  an  immense  public  benefaction  which  the  coun- 
try should  never  forget.  But,  after  all,  he  makes  it  plain 
that  all  such  sentiments  are  mere  matters  of  taste  with 
him,  resting  on  no  such  substratum  as  a  steadfast  appre- 
ciation of  moral  excellence." 


VISITING    IN    NEW    YORK.  285 

"  What  do  you  think  of  what  he  says  about  the  re- 
formers ?  " 

"  Well,  that  matter  is  not  fairly  straightened  out  in  my 
own  mind.  The  truth  is  that  I  am  not  very  well  satisfied 
with  myself  as  an  American  voter.  So  far  as  politics 
are  concerned,  I  have  always  been  a  shirk.  I  have  had 
a  pretty  strong  predilection  for  one  of  the  parties,  and 
have  cast  my  vote  regularly  for  its  candidates.  But  I 
have  done  this  without  any  of  that  sense  of  responsibility 
which  makes  a  fellow  inquire  into  things  with  manly 
vigor.  I  have  lazily  submitted  to  the  impression  that  it 
is  only  for  politicians  to  make  themselves  familiar  with 
political  affairs  ;  and  I  have  had  a  conception  of  that 
class  of  men  which  has  made  me  unwilling  to  be  one  of 
their  number.  But  I  believe  I  have  been  all  wrong  in 
this.  I  can  see  that  I  have  been  unconsciously  accept- 
ing the  Senator's  theory  that  a  national  election  is  simply 
a  battle  between  two  armies  of  spoilsmen.  Now  I  know 
some  of  these  reformers,  and  I  am  pretty  sure  that  they 
understand  what  they  are  about.  There  is  Gabriel  Just- 
man,  for  example.  He  is  a  very  level-headed  and 
broadly  cultivated  man  ;  and  he  has  taken  a  deep  inter- 
est in  public  affairs  all  his  life,  though  he  has  never  been 
in  office.  He  has  been  a  good  deal  of  a  partisan,  but 
has  shown  some  disposition  to  kick  out  of  the  traces 
lately.  I  '11  tell  you,  Nolly.  Justman  is  one  of  a  com- 
mittee who  receive  and  disburse  money  for  the  purpose 
of  propagating  the  reform  doctrines.  Now  if  this  is  a 
good  cause,  with  a  feasible  plan,  I  want  to  help  it  a 
little.  But  I  ought  to  know  something  more  about  it 
first.  Suppose  I  ask  Justman  to  come  up  here  soon  and 
give  us  an  explanation  ?  " 

"  I  should  be  delighted  to  hear  him  talk.     But  I  want 


286  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

to  know  just  now  how  you  are  impressed  by  what  the 
Senator  says  about  the  preachers.  I  have  been  very 
much  troubled  to  understand  why  it  is  that  so  many  of 
those  who  are  supposed  to  represent  the  very  highest 
morality  show  a  disposition  to  take  the  lead  in  what 
seems  to  me  to  be  the  wickedest  partisan  movement  ever 
known  among  men." 

"  That  opens  a  subject  of  very  grave  interest.  No- 
body can  understand  it  without  some  knowledge  of 
psychology, — something  that  deserves  to  be  called  a  knowl- 
edge of  psychology.  There  is  a  starting-point  for  an 
explanation  in  the  fact  that  a  preacher's,  or  any  other 
very  religious  person's,  susceptibility  to  the  perception 
of  moral  goodness  and  the  perception  of  moral  badness 
is  apt  to  be  exceptionally  acute.  But  just  in  proportion 
to  the  shock  which  the  perception  or  the  imagination  of 
moral  badness  gives  to  one's  emotional  power,  is  the 
inevitable  reaction  of  his  heart  against  those  to  whom 
the  badness  is  ascribed.  If  unrighteousness  is  believed 
to  characterize  a  population,  the  question  whether  that 
belief  is  true  or  false  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  result. 
Indignation,  which  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  a  dis- 
position to  punish,  necessarily  comes  into  being  in  either 
case  ;  and  its  force  is  measured  exactly  by  the  keenness 
of  the  susceptibility  which  I  just  mentioned.  Now  the 
preachers  of  whom  you  speak  believe  that  the  Southern 
whites,  as  a  body,  are  unrighteous  in  their  treatment  of 
the  negroes,  in  their  political  methods,  and  in  the  senti- 
ments with  which  they  regard  the  Union  and  the  North- 
ern people.  And  here  another  force  comes  in.  It 
springs  from  the  susceptibility  to  the  perception  of  hap- 
piness and  the  perception  of  unhappiness.  They  figure 
the  negroes,  as  suffering  from  oppression,  and  are  indig- 


VISITING    IN    NEW    YORK.  287 

nant  against  the  supposed  oppressors  in  proportion  as 
they  are  pained  by  that  conception  of  suffering.  The 
inevitable  consequence  is  that  they  are  loud  in  their  de- 
nunciations of  the  Southern  people,  and  rampant  in  their 
demand  that  the  federal  government  shall  be  hostile  to 
the  South." 

"  Do  you  say,  then,  that  these  men  are  entirely  blame- 
less in  echoing  the  sectional  clamor  ?  " 

"  I  say  no  such  thing.  I  say  it  is  a  horrible  sin  for 
one  human  being  to  join  in  a  clamor  against  other  hu- 
man beings  before  exhausting  all  available  sources  of 
information  in  regard  to  the  justice  of  that  clamor.  To 
seize  on  an  accusation  and  assume  its  justice,  before 
attending  to  what  the  accused  has  to  say  for  himself,  is 
as  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel  as  it  is  to  the 
spirit  of  the  English  common  law.  Here  comes  in  what 
we  were  speaking  of  the  other  day  in  connection  with 
responsibility  for  opinions.  How  can  any  man  of  com- 
mon sense  shut  his  eyes  to  the  truth,  that  the  unneces- 
sary cherishing  of  a  false  belief,  which  is  sure  to  result 
in  the  perpetration  of  injustice,  is  enormously  wicked  ? 
Men  do  not  apprehend  the  appalling  dangers  associated 
with  the  operation  of  noble  impulses,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  they  are  ignorant  of  themselves.  They  do 
not  see  how  mightily  indignation  predisposes  them  to 
believe  evil  of  those  who  are  its  objects,  and  to  repel 
without  examination  all  evidences  that  have  an  opposite 
bearing.  I  am  going  to  keep  on  repeating  that  no  man, 
who  has  not  a  good  measure  of  psychological  knowl- 
edge, is  fit  to  be  a  teacher  of  righteousness." 

The  interview  with  Mr.  Justman  was  soon  arranged. 
I  found  him  to  be  a  gentleman  apparently  in  his  prime, 
though  his  hair  and  side-whiskers  testified  that  he  was  no 


288  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

longer  young.  I  said  to  myself  that  his  features  were  of 
the  type  called  "  classical  "  ;  and  he  wore  an  air  of  re- 
finement which  was  sure  to  impress  itself  on  those  who 
observed  him.  To  suspect  him  of  any  deficiency  in 
emotional  power  was  out  of  the  question .;  and  yet  his 
countenance  presented  no  traces  of  tempestuous  feeling. 
The  steady  light  of  his  eyes,  and  other  signs  of  intelli- 
gence and  self-mastery,  caused  me  to  remember  the 
phrase,  "  tranquil  wisdom,"  which  I  had  often  heard 
Jorman  use.  The  principal  part  of  the  conversation  was 
as  follows  : 

Jorman  said  :  "  You  are  placing  us  under  obligation 
by  giving  us  this  interview.  But  after  all,  perhaps,  it  is 
more  your  own  business  than  it  is  ours  that  you  have 
come  upon.  We  want  to  see  what  reasons  there  are  for 
our  enlisting  in  this  Civil-Service  Reform  movement  ; 
and  I  suppose  you  care  a  great  deal  more  about  that 
cause  than  we  do  at  present.  Won't  you  give  us  a  little 
light,  in  the  first  place,  on  the  origin  of  this  movement?" 

Mr.  Justman  answered  :  "  It  originated,  like  other 
reformatory  movements  in  the  growing  comprehension 
of  growing  evils.  Thoughtful  men  came  to  be  deeply 
impressed  by  certain  abuses  in  the  public  service.  Their 
thoughts  having  been  once  turned  upon  that  subject,  the 
discoveries  were  both  multitudinous  and  startling.  As  a 
rule,  these  gentlemen  are  not  pessimists.  On  the  con- 
trary, they  are  strongly  predisposed  to  assume  that  under 
our  form  of  government  public  evils  are  curable.  But 
an  intelligent  prescription  of  remedies  had,  of  course,  to 
be  preceded  by  an  intelligent  diagnosis  ;  and  it  soon 
became  apparent  that  a  change  of  administration,  which 
is  the  remedy  regularly  clamored  for  in  such  cases,  could 
be  no  more  than  a  temporary  palliative.  The  offices 


VISITING    IN    NEW    YORK.  289 

would  still  be  filled  by  human  beings,  with  all  the  human 
liability  to  fall  under  the  power  of  temptation,  and  with 
no  evidence  of  fitness  beyond  subserviency  to  the  con- 
trollers of  patronage,  while  the  public  service  would 
necessarily  suffer  for  a  time  from  their  inexperience.  It 
is  now  seen  with  perfect  distinctness  that  the  only 
effectual  remedy  is  the  annihilation  of  the  system  on 
which  appointments  to  positions  in  the  civil  service  are 
made,  and  which  is  very  appropriately  called  the  "  spoils 
system."  This  is  the  end  which  we  have  in  view.  We 
do  not  flatter  ourselves  that  our  work  will  be  consum- 
mated very  speedily  or  by  a  single  Congressional  meas- 
ure. We  keep  ourselves  free  from  illusions.  But  we 
expect  to  see  some  grades  of  the  service  dissevered  from 
politics  at  an  early  day.  From  time  to  time  our  lines 
will  be  advanced,  and,  in  the  end,  our  country  will  be 
blest  with  a  thoroughly  non-partisan  civil  service." 

"  I  see  it  objected,"  Mr.  Jorman  remarked,  "  that  your 
scheme  is  contrary  to  the  genius  of  our  institutions,  and 
that  its  success  would  involve  the  creation  of  an  aristoc- 
racy of  office-holders." 

"Yes,"  Mr.  Justman  rejoined,  "that  objection  is  be- 
coming quite  current  with  a  certain  class  of  provincial 
newspapers,  and  among  bar-room  politicians  generally. 
I  see  no  mention  yet  of  an  aristocracy  of  grocers'  clerks, 
though  the  danger  in  the  two  cases  is  obviously  equal. 
The  word  '  aristocracy,'  when  it  is  used  with  any  pro- 
priety, conveys  the  idea  of  exercising  authority, — of 
ruling.  Now  we  propose  that  the  body  of  civil  servants 
shall  utterly  cease  to  provide  a  factor  in  determining 
what  party  shall  administer  the  government  or  be  vested 
with  the  law-making  power  of  the  land.  No  note  is  to 
be  taken  of  the  political  affiliations  of  these  public  ser- 


2QO  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

vants.  They  are  to  be  under  no  obligation  to  party 
leaders.  They  are  to  be  affected  no  more  than  other 
citizens  by  the  results  of  elections.  No  assessments 
upon  them  for  political  purposes  are  to  be  permitted. 
Partisan  activity  at  the  expense  of  official  industry  is  to 
be  strictly  forbidden.  As  to  influence  on  the  govern- 
ment of  the  country,  they  will  stand  where  the  members 
of  other  professions  stand.  As  individuals,  they  will 
weigh  for  what  they  are.  As  a  body,  their  political 
power  will  be  zero.  The  relation  of  their  existence  to 
the  spirit  of  popular  institutions  will  be  precisely  the 
same  as  the  relation  subsisting  in  the  existence  of  grocers' 
clerks.  An  aristocracy  !  How  stands  the  matter  under 
the  spoils  system  ?  Has  not  that  system  raised  up  a 
class  of  men  who  wield  a  power  out  of  all  proportion  to 
the  weight  of  their  personal  characters  ?  Does  not  the 
civil  service  yield  an  aggregated  power  which  constitutes 
a  tremendous  factor  in  determining  who  shall  be  our 
legislators  and  administrative  officers  ?  Look  at  the 
political  chieftains  and  see  the  ties  of  self-interest  be- 
tween them  and  their  followers,  assuring  a  mutual  sup- 
port whether  it  be  deserved  or  undeserved.  Why, 
gentlemen,  one  of  our  weightiest  reasons  for  earnestness 
in  this  reformatory  work  is  the  fact  that  our  country  has 
been  rapidly  coming  under  subjection  to  what  Governor 
Tilden  appropriately  called  an  '  oligarchy  of  office- 
holders.' The  truth  would  seem  to  be  that  those  who 
raise  the  objection  which  you  mention  are  exceedingly 
anxious  to  spend  their  lives  as  hangers-on  of  such  an 
oligarchy." 

"  You  spoke  of  the  civil  service  as  a  profession,"  said 
Mr.  Jorman.  "  Do  you  aim  to  place  it  on  that  basis  ?  " 

"Personally,"  Mr.  Justman  answered,  "I  am  looking 


VISITING    IN    NEW    YORK.  2pl 

toward  that  consummation.  You  may  call  it  a  profes- 
sion, or  an  aggregate  of  professions.  The  name  is  of  no 
consequence.  I  would  have  the  service  of  the  govern- 
ment, under  appointment  by  the  President  and  heads  of 
departments,  a  regular,  legitimate  vocation  ;  and  I  would 
have  admission  to  it  and  continuance  and  promotion  in 
it  governed  by  the  same  considerations  ,pf  fitness  which 
common-sense  dictates  in  every  other  service.  I  would 
have  a  faithful  and  efficient  servant  of  the  government 
retained  for  the  same  reasons  which  ensure  the  retention 
of  such  a  servant  by  a  railroad  company.  Of  course  the 
chief  administrative  officers  must  always  have  power  to 
designate  the  persons  who  are  to  have  the  most  intimate 
relations  with  them  and  to  be  held  responsible  for  the 
enforcement  of  their  policy.  But  leaving  this  small  num- 
ber of  persons  out  of  view,  to  state  the  plan  which  we 
favor  is  to  justify  it.  It  is  idle  to  argue  with  any  man 
who  doubts  that  the  merit  system  is  the  only  system  on 
which  the  money  of  the  people  can  be  honestly  and 
wisely  applied  to  the  maintenance  of  the  civil  service.  A 
preference  for  the  spoils  system  necessarily  involves  the 
assumption  that  it  is  proper  to  expend  the  money  of  the 
people  foolishly  and  corruptly.  Gentlemen,  there  is  ab- 
solutely nothing  to  be  said  in  favor  of  the  spoils  sys- 
tem." 

"  How  will  the  change  which  you  are  laboring  to  bring 
about  affect  the  multitude  of  patriots  who  are  aspiring  to 
the  privilege  of  serving  their  country  ?  " 

"  Just  as  they  are  affected  by  the  necessity  of  fitness 
in  all  other  vocations.  They  can  look  over  the  field,  as- 
certain what  qualifications  are  requisite,  learn  the  num- 
ber of  competitors  for  each  vacant  post,  and  choose  for 
themselves  between  competing  for  a  position  in  the  pub- 


292  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

lie  service  and  settling  down  to  some  other  calling.  If 
they  choose  the  former  course,  they  will  exert  themselves 
to  obtain  qualifications  which  will  profit  them  whether 
they  secure  the  official  prize  or  come  short  of  it.  Here, 
too,  we  see  a  great  gain  for  large  numbers  of  our  fellow- 
citizens.  Mr.  Jorman,  are  you  not  aware  that  the  hope 
of  winning  posts  in  the  public  service  through  partisan 
activity  and  subserviency  to  bosses  has  proved  ruinous 
to  myriads  and  myriads  of  men  ?  It  is  moderate  to  say 
that,  whenever  a  national  contest  is  in  progress  and  its 
issue  is  doubtful,  there  are  five  aspirants  to  each  of  the 
offices  which  the  new  administration  is  expected  to  dis- 
tribute. For  months,  half  a  million  of  Americans  are 
kept  unsettled  in  mind,  neglecting  their  opportunities  and 
becoming  daily  less  fitted  for  the  business  of  private  life." 

"  I  see  that  the  editors  and  orators  amuse  themselves 
very  highly  over  your  competitive  examinations." 

"Oh,  yes  ;  they  are  exceedingly  bright,  and  I  hope  they 
enjoy  their  brilliancy.  They  certainly  parade  their  igno- 
rance of  the  whole  subject  in  a  manner  which  affords  us 
much  food  for  mirth.  Still,  we  are  not  so  wedded  to 
competitive  examinations  that  we  are  unwilling  to  ex- 
change them  for  any  other  expedient  equally  sure  to  give 
us  an  honest,  efficient,  economical,  and  non-partisan 
service.  The  end  is  all  that  we  have  at  heart." 

"  But  is  it  not  important  that  there  should  be  one  large 
class  of  men  working  to  keep  the  offices,  and  a  similar 
class  struggling  to  obtain  them,  in  order  that  national 
canvasses  may  be  sufficiently  earnest  to  ensure  the  en- 
lightenment of  the  people?  I  am  in  the  habit  of  saying 
that  party  spirit  has  a  legitimate  office  in  bringing  about 
the  full  presentation  of  both  sides  of  every  public  ques- 
tion, and  of  the  respective  claims  of  political  parties." 


VISITING    IN    NEW    YORK.  293 

"Yes  ;  and  party  spirit,  in  alliance  with  patriotic  im- 
pulses, can  be  relied  upon  to  do  that  work.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  have  five  hundred  thousand  men  raging  for 
spoils.  Self-interest  will  be  sufficiently  represented  in 
the  exertions  of  candidates  for  the  elective  offices.  Be- 
sides, we  expect  the  destruction  of  the  spoils  system  to 
be  followed  by  the  political  activity  of  a  large  class  of 
men  who  are  now  politically  idle.  Mr.  Jorman,  I  have 
known  you  as  a  man  who  could  always  be  depended 
upon  to  vote  the  regular  ticket.  Let  me  ask  you  how 
many  times  you  ever  took  part  in  making  such  a  ticket, — 
in  designating  candidates  to  be  supported  by  your  party." 

"  You  can  get  at  the  number  by  substracting  six  from 
half  a  dozen." 

"  Precisely.  What  has  repelled  you  from  the  primary 
meetings  ? " 

"  The  characters  of  the  professional  politicians. 

"  Yes  ;  the  characters  of  a  class  of  men  raised  up  by  the 
spoils  system,  and  destined  to  disappear  with  the  spoils 
system.  When  such  men  shall  cease  to  arrogate  the 
control  of  all  measures  preliminary  to  political  canvasses, 
their  places  will  be  occupied  by  intelligent  and  patriotic 
citizens,  who  will  soon  come  to  understand  that  they  owe 
their  country  something  besides  the  bare  depositing  of 
their  ballots.  Gentlemen,  this  movement  for  reform  in 
the  civil  service  is  destined  to  be  an  epoch-making  move- 
ment." 

"  You  are  confident  of  ultimate  success,  are  you  ? " 

"  Confident  ?  Mr.  Jorman,  you  are  a  reader  of  his- 
tory. You  know  something  of  the  American  people.  You 
see  the  light  flowing  in  upon  this  spoils  system  and  re- 
vealing its  hideousness.  You  know  how  rapidly  the 
volume  of  such  light  increases  when  the  fires  begin  to 


294  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

blaze  throughout  the  land.  You  know  what  takes  place 
when  the  moral  sense  of  the  American  people  is  thor- 
oughly aroused  and  thoroughly  offended.  Have  you  a 
doubt  of  our  ultimate  success  ?  " 

"  Not  a  particle  of  doubt.  The  spoils  system  must  go 
under  in  the  end,  as  sure  as  fate." 

"  We  are  fully  aware  that  we  have  a  long  struggle  be- 
fore us.  The  congressional  enactment,  which  we  hope 
to  secure  at  an  early  day,  will  be  an  important  be- 
ginning. But  it  is  plain  that  there  can  be  no  rapid 
progress  without  an  administration  thoroughly  imbued 
with  the  reform  spirit.  We  can  hope  but  little  from 
either  of  the  candidates  now  in  the  field.  But  we  shall 
continue  to  work  on  ;  and  the  next  general  contest  will 
disclose  our  power  to  secure  the  nomination,  by  one 
party  or  the  other,  of  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  who 
will  show  himself  to  be  in  hearty  accord  with  us.  Then 
we  shall  secure  the  election  of  that  candidate." 

"  He  will  have  a  big  job  on  his  hands." 

"  Unquestionably.  The  spoilsmen  in  his  own  party 
will  howl  and  rage  ;  and  the  pressure  upon  him  will  be 
fearful.  The  newspapers  will  be  flooded  with  letters, 
signed  '  A  Life-long  Republican/  or  '  A  Life-long  Demo- 
crat/ as  the  case  may  be,  declaring  that  the  writers  cast 
their  votes  with  the  single  object  of  having  all  the  federal 
offices,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  filled  by  members 
of  their  own  party." 

Mr.  Justman  paused  at  this  point,  and,  after  a  short 
silence,  Jorman  remarked,  in  his  serious,  reflective  man- 
ner :  "  The  obvious  reply  to  the  Life-longers  will  be 
that  if  they  voted  with  that  single  end  in  view  they  voted 
as  donkeys,  and  that,  whatever  merits  those  animals  may 
possess  as  progenitors  of  mules,  they  are  not  adequately 


VISITING    IN    NEW    YORK.  295 

equipped  for  dictating  the  policy  of  an  administration. 
But  how  do  you  think  your  President's  fight  will  turn 
out  ? " 

"  That  is  something  which  no  one  can  foresee  at  this 
time.  It  will  rest  with  his  party  to  accept  or  reject 
the  glory  of  introducing  a  new  era  in  the  country's  his- 
tory. If  the  President  is  sustained  by  his  party,  it  will 
continue  to  administer  the  government  and  will  con- 
summate the  great  work.  If  the  spoilsmen  of  the  party 
control  its  action,  the  opposition  will  seize  the  oppor- 
tunity and  rise  to  power  by  committing  itself  irrevocably 
to  the  cause  of  reform.  It  would  be  no  new  thing  for 
the  work  begun  by  one  party  to  be  finished  by  another. 
You  remember  Disraeli's  Reform  bill." 

As  the  interview  was  closing,  my  friend  handed  Mr. 
Justman  a  check  and  said  to  him  :  "  Let  me  know  when 
your  treasury  needs  replenishing.  I  will  talk  this  matter 
over  with  Job  Mollison  and  a  few  other  friends.  You 
can  have  money  enough." 

My  own  remark  on  the  occasion  was  this  :  "  I  have 
been  led  by  several  causes — chiefly  by  the  partisan  em- 
ployment of  sectional  animosity — to  cherish  a  very  strong 
aversion  to  the  political  organization  in  which  I  was 
brought  up.  But  it  now  seems  to  me  altogether  certain 
that  I  shall  vote  hereafter  for  such  candidates  as  I  may 
see  to  be  most  earnest  in  their  hostility  to  the  spoils  sys- 
tem. If  they  happen  to  be  candidates  of  the  party  which 
I  have  been  hating,  so  be  it." 

When  Mr.  Justman  had  left  us  Jorman  walked  back 
and  forth  for  some  time.  At  length  he  broke  into  a 
laugh  and  said  :  "  I  have  been  taking  a  look  at  the  Life- 
longers.  They  are  about  the  most  interesting  specimens 
that  I  have  examined  lately.  The  name  of  their  party  is 


296  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

a  great  deal  broader  than  charity.  It  is  capable  of 
covering  not  only  the  multitude  of  sins,  but  all  imaginable 
sins.  And  the  name  of  the  opposite  party  would  make 
them  see  a  'brow  of  Egypt '  in  '  Helen's  beauty.'  Their 
party  is  the  sweetest  of  sweethearts.  Talk  about  senti- 
mentalism.  The  Life-longers  are  the  champion  senti- 
mentalists of  the  nineteenth  century.  What  an  edifying 
spectacle  we  have  when  a  Life-longer  in  Maine  smashes 
in  the  crown  of  his  hat,  straddles  his  legs  apart,  puts  his 
hands  in  his  pockets  and  howls,  because  a  postmaster  in 
Texas  don't  belong  to  his  party.  It  is  the  same  old 
story  of  an  affection  turned  into  a  passion,  abjuring  all 
association  with  reason,  and  starting  off  on  its  own  hook 
to  boss  things.  Party  spirit  is  an  excellent  impulse  when 
it  is  yoked  with  common-sense.  Its  source  in  the 
spiritual  organism  is  the  same  as  that  of  patriotism  and 
several  other  affections.  It  is  what  I  call  a  suscepti- 
bility to  consciousness  of  ownership.  When  you  say  of 
any  object,  'It  is  mine'  you  experience  a  certain  pleasure 
which  causes  your  heart  to  react  in  affection.  It  makes 
no  difference  whether  the  object  is  a  parrot  or  a  party. 
It  is  easy  enough  to  see  how  party  spirit  impels  men  to  a 
great  deal  of  beneficial  work  ;  but  when  it  sets  out  to 
provide  the  world  with  an  exhibition  of  idiots  it  is  pretty 
sure  to  take  the  prize." 

Our  evenings  at  the  Jorman  home  gave  us  our  most 
delightful  and  most  profitable  seasons.  They  always 
began  with  music  ;  and  this  was  usually  followed  by 
reading  aloud.  But  for  how  long  or  how  short  a  time  the 
reading  would  continue,  could  never  be  determined 
beforehand.  Sometimes  the  first  page  occasioned  dis- 
cussion or  comment ;  and  there  were  frequent  references 
to  other  books  for  more  light  than  was  furnished  by  the 


VISITING    IN    NEW    YORK.  297 

volume  in  hand.  A  number  of  cultivated  persons  of 
both  sexes  and  of  various  ages  were  already  on  such 
terms  with  the  family,  that  they  were  in  the  habit  of 
dropping  in  without  ceremony.  But  they  always  insisted 
that  their  coming  should  cause  no  interruption  of  the 
reading,  nor  suspension  of  the  conversation  which  they 
found  in  progress.  Most  of  them  could  be  relied  upon 
to  contribute  materially  to  the  interest  of  the  hour. 

When  we  had  started  for  home  my  wife  said  :  "  This 
has  been  a  blessed,  blessed  visit.  I  feel  that  it  will  do 
me  more  good  than  a  full  college  course  would  have 
done.  It  seems  to  me  that  I  have  gathered  in  enough 
to  keep  my  thoughts  occupied  for  years.  I  wonder  if  we 
shall  ever  forget  how  silly  it  is  for  people  to  live  selfishly. 
'Ouk  diakonethenai,  alia  diakonesai.'  Don't  you  say  so, 
darling  ? " 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

CORRESPONDENCE. 

TT  was  fully  understood  between  Mr.  Jorman  and 
•^  myself  that  there  was  to  be  a  long  return  visit  at 
Ellermere  the  next  winter.  I  remembered  afterwards 
that  when  this  subject  had  been  spoken  of  in  presence 
of  the  ladies,  Miss  Kitty  had  been  very  jubilant  over  the 
prospect,  while  the  two  wives  had  been  silent.  After  we 
reached  home  several  allusions  of  mine  to  the  prospective 
visit  failed  to  elicit  a  response  ;  and  I  got  exasperated 
at  length  and  charged  that  Lissey  showed  no  apprecia- 
tion of  our  friends.  I  was  even  boorish  enough  to  ask  if 
she  shrank  from  the  trouble  of  entertaining  them.  Then 
I  was  caressed  in  a  commiserating  style,  and  heard  some 
remarks  on  the  dulness  of  men,  which  made  me  feel  that 
I  was  an  object  of  pity  on  account  of  my  sex.  I  was 
bright  enough  at  last  so  to  interpret  circumlocutions, 
ambiguities,  and  blushes  as  to  understand  that  domestic 
events  in  both  families  would  necessitate  the  postpone- 
ment of  the  visit  to  another  winter.  For  this  reason,  and 
because  I  cannot  persuade  myself  entirely  to  ignore  that 
period  in  the  lives  of  those  in  whom  I  have  been  en- 
deavoring to  interest  my  readers,  I  will  give  here  a 
collection  of  extracts  from  letters,  arranging  them  with- 
out reference  to  the  order  of  their  respective  dates. 

GEORGE    BIDROP    TO    RALPH    JORMAN. 

"  Most  of  the  time  since  my  return  I  have  been  de- 
voting myself  to  my  farming  interests.     The  season  was 

298 


CORRESPONDENCE.  299 

quite  favorable  on  the  whole,  though  the  crops  suffered 
from  lack  of  rain  in  July.  I  find  that  the  estimated 
value  of  my  rents  in  kind  is  equivalent  to  a  fair  interest 
on  the  cost  of  my  land.  My  own  salary  for  supervision 
is  the  pleasure  I  have  taken  in  it.  Only  two  of  my 
tenants  are  any  better  off  than  they  were  at  the  beginning 
of  the  season.  I  had  advanced  so  much  to  the  others 
that  it  took  all  their  shares  of  the  crop  to  get  even  with 
me.  But  they  have  supported  their  families  comfortably  ; 
and  I  have  the  impression  that  this  is  as  much  as  tenant- 
farmers  generally,  in  any  part  of  the  country,  can  say  for 
themselves.  In  the  two  exceptional  cases  the  men  are 
able  to  settle  all  their  bills  and  to  buy  the  mules  which 
they  have  been  working.  Hence,  their  percentage  will 
be  increased  for  the  next  crop.  I  find,  at  the  same  time, 
that  these  men  have  paid  me  the  highest  rents,  for  the 
reason  that  they  have  been  the  most  thorough  of  all  my 
tenants  in  cultivating  their  crops. 

"  I  am  going  to  enjoy  this  plantation  life  exceedingly. 
As  I  see  it  now,  I  could  not  be  induced  to  exchange  it 
for  any  other  occupation.  There  is  something  in  the 
care  of  crops,  flocks,  and  herds  that  suits  my  taste  ex- 
actly. It  seems  to  me  that  I  am  participating  in  the 
vitality  and  development  which  I  am  fostering.  I  see 
that  the  demand  for  brain-work  is  going  to  be  constant 
and  pressing,  and  I  am  glad  that  I  am  new  to  the  busi- 
ness and  have  every  thing  to  learn.  I  am  reading  up  on 
agricultural  chemistry,  and  am  beginning  to  collect  the 
most  approved  works  on  vegetable  physiology.  The 
secrets  of  nature,  especially  the  laws  under  which  her 
forces  operate,  are  becoming  very  attractive  to  me.  But 
I  see  that  for  knowledge  of  immediate  practical  benefit 
to  me  I  must  look  chiefly  to  the  most  experienced  and 


300  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

successful  farmers  among  my  neighbors.  We  are  taking 
steps  to  organize  a  farmers'  club  in  this  part  of  the 
county.  It  is  probable  that  we  shall  put  up  a  large 
club-house  in  some  pleasant  grove  at  a  central  point, 
and  arrange  for  monthly  meetings.  Lissey  says  that 
each  meeting  must  be  an  all-day  picnic,  and  that  the 
farmers  must  bring  their  wives  and  children.  She  insists 
that  the  primary  object  is  to  be  the  improvement  of 
farmers  and  their  families,  and  that  the  improvement  of 
farms  and  farming  methods  will  follow  as  a  natural  con- 
sequence. I  apprehend  that  my  own  specialty  at  the 
meetings  will  be  the  drawing  out  of  practical  information 
from  those  who  possess  it.  All  I  shall  have  to  do  in  the 
way  of  preparation  will  be  to  write  out  a  list  of  questions 
which  I  desire  to  have  answered  for  my  own  benefit. 
We  shall  take  a  good  number  of  agricultural  and  horti- 
cultural publications,  and  have  a  committee  make  se- 
lections from  them  for  reading  and  discussion  at  the 
meetings.  Lissey  says  that  a  good  deal  of  attention 
must  be  given  to  the  home-life  of  farmers'  families,  the 
employment  of  their  leisure,  farmers'  libraries,  etc. 

"I  am  enclosing  some  land  for  grazing,  and  gathering 
what  information  I  can  about  the  best  breeds  of  cattle, 
sheep,  and  hogs,  for  this  climate.  As  the  support  of  a 
poor  animal  is  as  expensive  as  that  of  a  good  one,  it 
seems  to  me  very  nonsensical  to  keep  any  but  the  best 
breeds.  The  matter  of  grasses  is  a  very  serious  one  for 
us.  The  Northern  grasses  need  a  longer  period  of  rest 
than  our  winters  afford  them.  I  have  talked  with  some 
of  my  neighbors  on  the  possibility  of  acclimatizing 
grasses  by  a  series  of  seedings  and  sowings  ;  but  I  do 
not  learn  that  there  has  been  any  systematic  effort  in  that 
direction.  If  you  can  find  any  work  on  the  general  subject 


CORRESPONDENCE.  301 

of  the  acclimatization  of  plants,  I  wish  you  would  send 
it  to  me.  There  must  be  something  of  that  kind  in  Ger- 
man, if  not  in  English.  Several  of  my  neighbors  are 
experimenting  with  alfalfa,  and  the  merits  of  Bermuda 
grass,  Johnson  grass,  etc.,  are  widely  discussed. 

"  The  matter  of  labor  is  taking  up  a  great  many  of  my 
thoughts.  I  am  sure  that  I  shall  never  be  satisfied  with 
the  cultivation  of  my  land  on  the  share  system.  It  does  n't 
give  me  sufficient  control  over  the  methods  employed  ; 
and  I  shall  abandon  it  altogether  as  soon  as  I  can  get 
my  work  completely  in  hand.  I  will  pay  regular  wages 
and  have  work  done  in  my  way,  whether  it  is  a  good  one 
or  not.  I  will  have  houses  for  my  laborers  and  their 
families,  with  a  '  patch '  connected  with  each  house,  so 
that  the  women  and  children  can  raise  potatoes,  and 
other  vegetables.  These  things  will  be  taken  into  ac- 
count, of  course,  in  adjusting  the  wages  of  the  men. 
What  we  need  most,  in  order  that  we  may  get  good  work 
and  derive  a  fair  profit  from  our  farms,  is  the  intellectual 
and  moral  elevation  of  the  negroes.  We  need  to  have 
them  more  capable  of  comprehending  our  directions  and 
understanding  the  money-value  of  trustworthiness.  It 
would  be  a  great  gain,  too,  if  we  could  make  them  see 
the  importance  of  keeping  themselves  physically  able  to 
do  good  work.  They  are  very  prone  to  spend  their 
nights  in  such  pranks  that  they  are  good  for  nothing  on 
the  succeeding  days.  Some  of  them  find  their  dissipa- 
tion in  what  they  call  prayer-meetings,  where  they  shout 
and  bellow  and  prance  till  nearly  morning.  Others  are 
tramping  over  the  hills  and  through  the  valleys  after  op- 
portunities for  other  kinds  of  self-indulgence.  We  have 
got  to  content  ourselves  with  seeing  improvement  in  these 
matters  progressing  very  slowly.  It  seems  that  his  habits 


302  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

are  about  as  hard  as  his  skin,  for  the  Ethiopian  to  change. 
I  am  satisfied  that  the  first  point  to  push  for  is  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  negro  clergy.  The  negro  masses  have  got  to 
be  lifted  up  by  their  preachers  if  they  are  ever  lifted  up  at 
all.  Nobody  else  can  do  much  with  them.  Colonel  Orling- 
ton  and  I  agree  that  if  we  can  find  a  colored  minister, 
who  has  sufficient  intelligence  and  will  put  his  heart  into 
the  work,  it  will  pay  us  to  support  him  liberally  for  the 
benefit  of  the  negroes  on  the  two  plantations.  The  Col- 
onel is  hunting  for  the  right  man.  Lissey  says  that 
Aunt  Phyllis  is  doing  valuable  missionary  work  among 
the  colored  women.  This  comes  from  Lissey's  having 
seen  your  Greek  motto. 

"  Matters  immediately  connected  with  my  business 
don't  take  up  all  my  time.  Lissey  and  I  are  going  on 
quite  systematically  with  a  course  of  reading.  Besides, 
I  am  spending  an  hour  or  two  every  day  on  a  book  which 
I  have  begun  to  write.  Don't  you  thing(  I  ought  to  give 
the  world  some  of  the  things  which  I  have  learned  from 
you  ? 

"  John  Orlington  is  off  at  school.  Immediately  after 
the  visit  at  Verdville,  when  he  met  mother  and  Dolly 
for  the  first  time,  he  began  to  talk  with  his  sister  about 
being  an  ignoramus  ;  and  his  dissatisfaction  at  the  pros- 
pect of  going  through  life  as  an  ill-informed  man 
increased  rapidly  from  week  to  week.  But  his  sister 
convinced  him  that  he  still  had  power  to  abolish  that 
disagreeable  prospect.  He  shrank  at  first  from  the 
thought  of  going  to  school,  because  he  would  be  sure 
to  be  brought  in  contact  with  young  boys — '  little  boys,'  he 
called  them — who  would  be  much  further  advanced  than 
himself.  But  his  sister  told  him  he  must  be  brave 
enough  to  disregard  all  such  considerations,  and  he 


CORRESPONDENCE.  303 

finally  mustered  the  requisite  nerve-power.  It  was  im- 
possible for  him  to  leave  home  until  the  crop  \vas  made 
and  gathered.  But  the  Colonel  then  rented  the  greater 
part  of  the  plantation  for  the  next  season,  and  John 
could  be  spared.  He  says  all  he  expects  to  do  at  school 
is  to  learn  how  to  use  books  and  thus  get  into  a  position 
to  educate  himself.  We  are  expecting  him  to  become  a 
magnificent  man." 

MRS.  JABEZ    BIDROP  TO  MRS.   JORMAN. 

"  I  want  to  thank  you  with  all  my  heart  for  your  kind- 
ness to  my  children.  I  feel  that  their  having  that  long 
visit  was  one  of  the  greatest  among  the  blessings  which 
Providence  has  been  showering  upon  me.  It  was  next 
to  Martha's  being  given  to  George.  I  have  made  each 
of  them  give  particular  accounts  of  the  talks  with  you 
and  Mr.  Jorman  and  Miss  Loyalty,  and  I  am  getting 
enjoyment  and  profit  out  of  them  day  after  day.  I  knew 
you  would  love  Martha  ;  she  is  so  sweet,  and  is  always 
finding  so  much  to  be  happy  over.  What  I  used  to  fear 
for  George  was  that  he  would  get  a  wife  inclined  to  look 
on  the  dark  side  of  every  thing.  That  would  have  been 
sure  to  make  him  appear  bad-tempered.  Almost  the 
only  thing  he  ever  scolded  Dolly  and  me  for  was  because 
we  were  not  so  happy  as  he  thought  we  ought  to  be.  Of 
course  he  would  get  into  little  pets  about  other  things  ; 
but  they  always  passed  away  in  a  few  minutes.  He  has 
not  inherited  that  grand  repose  which  made  his  father's 
wisdom  so  plain  to  every  one.  But  he  has  been  a  dear, 
good  boy.  From  the  time  of  his  father's  death  he  was 
ready  to  lay  down  his  life  for  Dolly  and  me  any  minute. 

"  Dolly  is  getting  on  finely  in  her  studies,  and  is  quite 
womanly  now  in  her  manners  and  her  way  of  looking  at 


304  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

things.  She  is  a  great  pet  in  the  school.  I  think  they 
all  took  particular  pains  to  be  pleasant  to  her  at  first, 
because  they  wanted  to  show  that  they  had  no  prejudice 
on  account  of  her  being  a  Northern  girl.  I  was  sur- 
prised to  find  such  excellent  teachers  as  we  have  here. 
They  are  very  thorough  and  conscientious  in  all  their 
work,  and  have  managed  in  some  way  to  keep  themselves 
informed  about  the  best  methods,  much  out  of  the  world 
as  this  place  seems  to  be. 

"  I  am  still  the  house-keeper  at  the  school,  though 
they  call  me  the  '  matron.'  I  am  usually  very  happy, 
because  the  girls  try  to  please  me  every  way  they  can  ; 
and  then  I  have  the  feeling  that  a  few  persons  are  a  little 
better  off  on  account  of  my  being  in  the  world.  Some- 
times I  am  very  tired,  and  have  my  thoughts  all  taken 
up  with  what  I  have  failed  to  accomplish,  and  get  to 
asking  myself  what  use  there  is  in  such-  an  insignificant 
little  woman's  trying  to  do  any  thing.  But  I  have  finally 
succeeded  in  forming  the  habit  of  remembering  at  such 
times  that  every  thing  will  look  different  to  me  as  soon 
as  I  get  rested.  The  Greek  motto  has  done  us  a  world 
of  good.  Martha  asked  Dolly  to  make  a  copy  of  it  for 
a  birth-day  present  to  George,  and  she  embroidered  one 
beautifully  on  dark  velvet.  The  last  time  I  was  at 
Ellermere  I  saw  it  fastened  up  in  the  library,  where 
George  and  Martha  study  together  and  agree  on  their 
plans." 

SERENA    TO    LISSEY. 

"  Our  life  is  much  the  same  as  when  you  were  here. 
Our  responsibilities  are  increasing  considerably,  but  our 
work  is  becoming  so  systematized  that  we  do  it  more 
and  more  easily  and  find  it  more  and  more  delightful. 
Mr.  Jorman  says  we  are  beginning  to  have  much  pleasure 


CORRESPONDENCE.  305 

from  a  consciousness  of  power,  which  is  stimulated  by 
our  increasing  skill  in  managing  what  we  have  charge 
of.  Several  of  his  wealthy  friends  are  putting  money 
into  our  hands  for  charitable  purposes.  They  are  very 
much  occupied  with  business,  and  are  not  inclined  to 
make  any  break  in  their  customary  recreations.  They 
tell  Mr.  Jorman  if  he  is  willing  to  take  the  drudgery 
upon  himself  they  will  furnish  him  money  whenever  he 
calls  for  it.  But  he  can  hardly  ever  get  them  to  pay 
attention  to  any  explanation  of  the  way  he  uses  the 
money.  One  of  them  calls  it  '  going  into  a  blind  pool.' 
I  think  it  would  be  very  much  better  for  such  gentlemen 
if  they  could  be  more  interested  in  the  particular  objects 
to  which  the  money  is  devoted.  Having  this  help  from 
them  has  led  to  some  discussion  between  Mr.  Jorman 
and  me.  I  could  not  help  feeling  anxious  on  account  of 
the  chance  there  was  to  suspect  us  of  using  some  of  the 
money  for  ourselves,  and  so  I  insisted  that  we  ought  to 
keep  a  full  record  of  what  we  received  and  what  we  paid 
out,  and  take  receipts  when  it  was  possible.  But  it  was 
a  long  time  before  I  could  get  him  to  admit  the  possi- 
bility of  our  being  subject  to  such  a  suspicion.  He 
found  out,  though,  that  I  was  keeping  such  a  record  very 
carefully,  and  then  he  said,  as  our  business  was  increas- 
ing so  much,  we  must  have  a  book-keeper.  We  offered 
the  position  to  my  sister,  and  she  accepted  it  most  joy- 
fully. She  had  been  feeling  that  she  was  entirely  useless, 
but  this  work  is  giving  her  new  life.  She  writes  an 
excellent  hand,  and  is  very  careful  and  accurate. 

"  There  is  another  thing  which  may  interest  you. 
Several  of  us  ladies  had  talked  at  different  times  of  what 
we  might  gain  by  being  better  acquainted,  and  of  how 
little  satisfaction  there  was  in  our  formal  calls,  besides 


306  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

the  great  amount  of  time  taken  up  in  that  way.  In  the 
course  of  such  conversations  I  had  been  led  to  suggest 
that  it  might  be  possible  to  have  a  regular  time  and 
place  for  coming  together  and  spending  an  hour  or  two 
socially.  After  a  while  five  or  six  of  the  ladies  called 
on  me  together  and  asked  me  if  I  would  open  my  parlor 
for  that  purpose  some  afternoon  in  each  week,  and  I  set 
apart  Tuesday  afternoon  from  three  o'clock  to  five 
o'clock.  I  proposed  that  in  speaking  of  these  gatherings 
we  should  call  them  'meetings  of  the  34th  Street  Ladies' 
Club.'  But  I  have  been  overruled  in  that  matter,  and 
the  ladies  all  name  the  meetings  '  Mrs.  Jorman's  Tuesday 
afternoons.'  The  usual  attendance  is  already  much 
larger  than  I  expected  ever  to  see  it  ;  and  Mr.  Jorman 
has  ordered  a  large  number  of  nice  camp-chairs,  which 
can  be  folded  up  and  packed  away  when  they  are  not 
needed. 

"  Mr.  Jorman  and  I  had  many  talks  about  how  these 
afternoons  could  be  made  profitable.  We  could  not  bear 
to  think  of  their  being  merely  what  he  called  a  '  Gossip 
Exchange.'  At  the  same  time  it  was  necessary  that  there 
should  be  no  stiff  formality  about  them  and  no  breaking 
up  of  their  social  character.  We  thought  that  whatever 
was  done  would  have  to  be  done  in  a  social  way.  Mr. 
Jorman  said  that  every  thing  would  depend  on  the  class 
of  subjects  that  engaged  attention.  But  you  know  that 
I  have  no  gift  for  leading  in  conversation.  I  always  feel 
embarrassed  when  the  attention  of  more  than  two  or 
three  is  directed  to  what  I  am  saying  ;  and  I  never  have 
more  than  two  or  three  sentences  ready  at  any  one  time. 
Even  then  I  am  always  hesitating  for  the  right  word. 
But  Providence  favored  us  in  this  matter  wonderfully. 
At  our  second  afternoon  one  of  my  friends  brought  and 


CORRESPONDENCE.  307 

introduced  to  me  a  Miss  Cutterra,  of  whom  I  had  often 
heard  her  speak.  This  lady  is  about  forty  years  old, 
with  blue-gray  eyes  and  a  very  expressive  countenance. 
She  seems  to  be  familiar  with  almost  every  subject  which 
can  be  mentioned.  Her  reading  must  have  been  im- 
mense, and  she  must  have  reflected  a  great  deal  on  what 
she  has  read.  But  notwithstanding  all  this,  there  is  not 
a  particle  of  the  blue  stocking  about  her.  I  am  told  that 
she  is  quite  what  is  called  a  '  society  lady.'  I  think  I 
never  knew  her  conversational  powers  equalled  ;  and  she 
is  very  quick  at  connecting  remarks  dropped  by  others 
with  subjects  which  interest  her.  Mr.  Jorman  says  her 
strong  point  is  desire  of  sympathy,  by  which  he  means 
her  desire  to  have  her  thoughts  and  feelings  shared  by 
others.  Before  I  had  been  talking  with  Miss  Cutterra 
five  minutes,  I  believed  the  Lord  had  sent  her  to  us,  and 
before  she  left  I  asked  her  to  call  on  me  the  next  after- 
noon. She  did  so,  and  I  explained  the  mission  which  I 
desired  her  to  undertake, — how  I  wanted  her  to  work  in 
her  own  way  to  elevate  the  tone  of  thinking  among  our 
ladies.  She  was  taken  much  aback  and  assured  me  that 
she  could  not  think  of  assuming  such  a  responsibility. 
After  we  had  discussed  the  subject  for  some  time  without 
my  having  appeared  to  make  much  progress,  I  took  her 
into  our  working-room  and  gave  her  a  short  account  of 
the  way  in  which  Mr.  Jorman  and  I  spend  our  mornings 
there.  Then  I  looked  up  at  the  Greek  motto,  and  her 
eyes  followed  mine.  She  stood  and  gazed  at  the  beauti- 
ful inscription  a  long  time,  and  when  she  turned  her 
eyes  toward  me  they  were  brimming  with  tears.  She 
put  her  arm  around  my  neck  and  kissed  me.  '  I  will  do 
whatever  you  ask  of  me,  Mrs.  Jorman,'  she  said. 

"  Each   succeeding   Tuesday   afternoon    I    have  new 


308  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

reasons  for  rejoicing  over  the  enlistment  of  Miss  Cutterra 
in  this  work.  Without  the  slightest  appearance  of  ob- 
trusiveness,  she  glides  from  one  group  to  another  and 
joins  in  whatever  conversation  may  be  going  on,  often 
exciting  mirth,  but  sure  in  the  end  to  lead  the  conversa- 
tion to  something  that  will  be  profitable.  A  few  weeks 
ago  I  induced  her  to  read  for  the  benefit  of  the  company 
a  few  pages  from  a  recent  English  work  which  has  not 
been  re-published  in  this  country.  Then  I  asked  her  a 
question  or  two,  and  this  gave  rise  to  questions  by  others. 
Since  that  time  half  an  hour  or  such  a  matter  is  usually 
spent  in  that  way  ;  and  Miss  Cutterra  is  receiving  many 
requests  for  advice  as  to  the  selection  of  books.  It  is 
quite  generally  understood  among  the  ladies  that  I  shall 
soon  have  to  be  excused  for  a  few  weeks,  and  that  Miss 
Cutterra  will  represent  the  mistress  of  the  house  at  the 
Tuesday  afternoons  during  that  period." 

MISS    LOYALTY    TO    LISSEY. 

"  O  you  dear  Lissey,  if  you  cared  any  thing  about  do- 
ing what  is  right,  you  would  pack  your  trunk  and  take 
the  first  train  for  New  York.  It  was  so  ridiculous  for 
you  and  Aunt  Serena  to  keep  us  from  coming  to  Eller- 
mere.  Uncle  Psycho  and  Nolly  were  both  anxious  for 
the  visit.  They  were  just  as  nice  as  they  could  be.  If  I 
had  you  here  I  would  pinch  your  cheek  and  kiss  you 
and  tell  you  you  had  lost  all  your  beauty.  Then  I  would 
take  you  off  to  my  room  and  sit  down  with  you  and  get 
my  arm  around  your  waist  and  cuddle  up  under  your 
big  deep  preciousness  and  have  such  a  sweet  cry.  Orrin 
is  going  to  leave  the  seminary  in  a  few  weeks.  He  says 
the  rest  of  the  course  would  only  be  a  chase  after  grati- 
fications of  vanity,  in  preparing  to  make  a  display  at 


CORRESPONDENCE.  309 

commencement  and  getting  a  diploma  to  brag  about. 
He  is  right  of  course,  and  it  is  all  my  fault  that  I  can't 
feel  as  he  does  about  it.  But  I  can't  help  wishing  it  was 
his  duty  to  go  on  in  the  regular  way.  I  should  like  to  have 
him  '  astonish  the  natives  '  with  his  oration  and  have  the 
men  praising  his  eloquence  and  the  girls  talking  about 
his  being  so  handsome.  They  all  say  that  he  is  very 
smart,  and  two  or  three  churches,  where  he  has  preached 
once  iu  a  while,  want  him  for  a  pastor.  But  he  says  there 
is  no  such  luxurious  life  for  him.  He  is  talking  about 
picking  out  the  wickedest  place  he  can  find  and  hiring  a 
hall  and  preaching  without  cost  to  any  one.  He  says 
we  must  live  on  what  is  left  of  his  income  after  paying 
the  expenses  of  keeping  up  his  congregation.  He  asked 
me  if  I  could  be  content  to  live  as  the  very  poorest  peo- 
ple do,  and  I  told  him  I  would  share  any  lot  he  chose 
for  us  if  he  needed  me.  I  did  n't  tell  him  that  I  should 
be  contented,  because  I  did  n't  feel  certain  just  then  that 
I  co2tld\)Q  ;  and  I  could  n't  tell  him  a  fib  you  know.  You 
have  n't  forgotten  how  I  like  pretty  things,  and  how  dirt 
and  coarse  manners  and  bad  language  make  me  squirm. 
But  I  can  harden  myself  to  all  such  things,  and  I  can 
learn  to  cook  and  wash  and  do  any  thing  that  's  neces- 
sary, as  long  as  I  am  helping  Orrin.  I  know  he  does 
need  me  and  always  will.  It  's  a  mystery  why  it  should 
be  so  with  such  a  little  black  snub-nosed  thing  as  I  am  ; 
but  I  know  that  I  can  make  him  rest  as  nobody  else  can. 
He  may  be  ever  so  uneasy  and  fidgety,  and  he  will  be  as 
quiet  as  a  lamb  as  soon  as  he  feels  my  hand  on  his  arm. 
If  I  was  n't  so  wicked,  I  should  n't  have  any  trouble. 
But  some  times  I  catch  myself  wishing  it  was  n't  right 
for  Orrin  to  take  such  a  course  ;  and  then  my  whole 
soul  cries  out  for  Lissey.  I  can't  talk  to  aunt  Serena 


310  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

and  uncle  Psycho  about  these  things,  because  they  would 
find  fault  with  Orrin,  and  that  would  make  me  angry.  I 
have  been  almost  ready,  two  or  three  times,  to  ask  Aunt 
Serena  if  I  might  go  to  Ellermere  by  myself.  But,  if  Orrin 
should  want  to  see  me  and  I  should  n't  be  here,  it  would 
be  dreadful." 

LISSEY    TO    MISS    LOYALTY. 

"  We  are  very  proud  of  our  brave  Miss  Loyalty,  and 
we  pray  God  to  bless  her  and  bless  her.  It  touches  our 
hearts  so  to  think  of  your  being  ready  to  give  up  almost 
every  thing  that  you  enjoy  so  much,  and  of  your  looking 
forward  to  a  life  of  hard  work  and  privation.  And  then 
we  see  how  strong  you  are  when  you  are  able  to  form 
such  a  resolution  in  spite  of  the  shrinking  of  your  heart 
from  coarse  scenes  and  from  people  who  have  no  re- 
finement. But  you  need  n't  talk  about  putting  your  dear 
little  delicate  hands  to  washing.  Orrin  would  see  that  it 
would  not  be  right  for  him  to  refuse  to  let  your  friends 
fit  you  up  a  nice  little  home,  and  place  pretty  things 
around  you,  and  hire  a  servant  for  you.  We  shall  tell 
him  the  money  will  be  thrown  away  if  it  is  not  used  for 
that  purpose.  That  won't  be  any  thing  like  charity,  you 
know.  It  won't  be  as  if  Orrin  was  poor.  Besides,  the 
help  will  be  given  to  the  cause,  so  that  you  and  Orrin 
may  have  a  place  where  you  can  get  nicely  rested  and  be 
able  to  go  out  again  fresh  and  strong  for  your  great  work. 
And  then  you  will  both  need  to  visit  a  great  deal  with 
your  Uncle  Psycho  and  Aunt  Serena.  They  are  so  wise 
and  true  ;  they  will  help  you  a  great  deal  about  your 
work.  If  you  can  have  these  resting-places,  where 
every  thing  will  be  beautiful  and  improving,  you  will 
soon  get  so  that  you  won't  '  squirm,'  as  you  say,  when 


CORRESPONDENCE.  31 1 

you  are  among  rough  people.  I  know  that,  while  you 
are  looking  forward  to  the  kind  of  a  life  that  Orrin  pro- 
poses for  you,  you  can't  help  feeling  sad  a  good  many 
times  ;  and,  Loyey  dear,  if  I  was  in  your  place,  I  would 
be  very  religious.  It  is  so  comforting  and  strengthening. 
If  it  had  n't  been  for  mamma's  faith,  I  don't  know  what 
we  should  have  done  when  we  were  in  such  distress,  and 
papa  was  near  being  crazy  because  he  could  n't  pay  debts 
that  he  owed  to  people  who  were  suffering  for  their 
money,  and  there  was  no  chance  to  sell  any  of  his  land. 
Mamma  and  I  used  to  go  into  her  bedroom,  and  kneel 
down  by  the  side  of  her  bed,  and  she  would  tell  the  Lord 
all  about  our  troubles,  and  commit  every  thing  to  Him, 
and  ask  Him  to  guide  us.  O  how  that  used  to  brighten 
up  the  world  for  us  !  And  almost  always,  when  we  had 
left  the  bedroom  and  gone  about  our  work,  we  could  see 
something  cheering  that  we  had  n't  seen  before,  or  think 
of  some  new  turn  that  papa  could  make.  I  can't  write 
any  more  now.  O,  my  precious  girl,  how  dear  you  are 
to  me!  " 

LISSEY    TO    SERENA. 

"  I  am  strong  enough  to  write  now,  and  I  am  so  thank- 
ful that  I  have  a  chance  to  write  to  a  dear  friend  who  is 
also  blessing  God  for  a  sweet  little  baby.  Our  precious 
little  boy  is  three  weeks  old,  and  seems  to  be  very  well 
and  strong.  There  is  not  a  bit  of  deformity  about  him 
anywhere.  It  dHji't  seem  so  strange  to  me  as  it  did  at 
first  ;  but  I  can't  help  wondering  that  I  used  to  under- 
stand so  little  about  what  it  is  to  be  a  mother.  I  never 
had  any  doubt  of  my  power  for  loving  ;  but  I  had  no 
idea  of  what  is  in  my  heart  now  when  I  am  thinking  of 
our  dear  little  treasure.  The  gift  seems  to  be  such  a 
sacred  one  ;  and  it  is  so  sweet  to  feel  thankful  for  it. 


312  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

Oh  !  how  can  any  mother  live  without  being  religious  ? 
Think  of  being  trusted,  as  a  mother  is,  with  the  care  of 
an  immortal  soul.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  responsibility 
would  crush  me  if  I  could  n't  look  up  to  Heaven  for 
guidance.  How  sweet  it  is  now  to  remember  the  pro- 
mise that,  if  we  lack  wisdom  and  ask  of  God,  it  shall  be 
given. 

"  There  is  one  thing  that  I  did  n't  think  was  possible. 
I  did  n't  think  that  any  thing  could  bring  Nolly  and  me 
any  nearer  to  each  other  than  we  were  before.  But  I 
find  that  I  was  mistaken.  Since  baby  came  to  us  it  al- 
most seems  as  if  our  souls  were  blended  together  so  that, 
in  some  strange  way,  we  are  only  one  person. 

"  I  can't  tell  you  how  much  interested  I  was  in  the  let- 
ter you  wrote  me  a  little  while  before  you  were  sick.  It 
makes  me  very  happy  to  think  what  a  delightful  life  you 
and  Mr.  Jorman  are  living.  How  empty  and  silly  it 
makes  the  lives  of  a  great  many  rich  and  fashionable 
people  appear.  I  hope  Miss  Cutterra  will  bring  some  of 
the  ladies  of  that  class  to  your  Tuesday  afternoons.  Poor 
creatures  !  I  suppose  they  have  been  so  imprisoned  in 
their  little  world  of  fashion,  that  they  have  had  no 
chance  to  learn  much  about  rational  enjoyments.  Per- 
haps if  you  and  I  had  always  been  shut  up  in  a  little  ex- 
clusive circle,  we  should  have  been  just  as  blind  as  they 
are,  and  have  cared  just  as  little  as  they  do  about  the 
rest  of  the  world. 

"  Nolly  and  I  can  never  have  the  joy  of  being  as  useful 
as  you  and  Mr.  Jorman  are  ;  but  we  are  very  thankful  for 
such  opportunities  as  we  have.  Nolly  hardly  ever  talks 
to  any  one  but  me  about  being  useful  ;  and  he  is  a  great 
hand,  when  he  is  doing  good,  to  make  it  appear  that  it 
is  all  in  the  way  of  business  and  for  his  own  interest. 


CORRESPONDENCE.  313 

He  is  very  ingenious  in  showing  how  we  are  getting 
benefit  ourselves  when  we  are  helping  others.  But  I 
know  that  his  principal  pleasure,  way  down  in  his  heart, 
is  in  thinking  of  the  good  that  is  being  done.  You  know 
about  our  Farmers'  Club.  Our  neighbors,  all  through 
this  part  of  the  county,  are  very  enthusiastic  over  it. 
They  are  wondering  why  they  never  got  up  any  such 
thing  before.  The  farmers  say  they  are  learning  a  great 
deal  from  one  another  and  getting  a  great  many  new 
ideas  that  will  be  valuable  to  them  in  their  work.  And 
then  they  all  bring  their  families  to  the  meetings,  and  we 
are  getting  to  be  so  much  more  interested  in  each  other, 
and  in  the  good  of  the  community,  than  we  used  to  be. 
Everybody's  mind  seems  to  be  waking  up.  I  wrote  to 
our  dear  old  friend,  General  Brocknell,  and  he  came  and 
stayed  two  weeks  with  us.  Then  he  attended  a  meeting  of 
the  club  and  made  two  addresses.  Before  dinner  his 
subject  was  '  The  Farmer's  Home'  ;  and  after  dinner  he 
showed  how  much  the  interests  of  the  land-owners  de- 
pended on  the  elevation  of  the  colored  laborers.  But  he 
didn't  stop  there,  because  he  always  talks  right  out  what 
he  thinks  and  feels.  He  told  us  it  was  a  Christian  duty 
to  do  all  we  can  to  make  these  people  more  intelligent  and 
virtuous.  What  he  said  went  a  great  ways,  for  the  old 
Confederate  soldiers  almost  idolize  him.  I  wish  our 
people,  all  over  the  South,  would  wake  up  to  this  sub- 
ject. There  are  some  things  about  a  great  many  of  the 
colored  people  that  you  can't  understand  ;  but  they  are 
very  shocking.  We  Southern  white  women  would  be 
living  in  constant  terror  if  we  had  n't  such  protectors  as 
the  Southern  meti,  or  if  they  trusted  entirely  to  the  law 
for  punishing  some  crimes.  You  can  see  by  the  scrawls 
I  am  making,  that  I  am  getting  a  little  tired." 


314  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

RALPH    JORMAN    TO    GEORGE    BIDROP. 

"Paternity  !  My  beloved  hearers,  the  subject  of  pater- 
nity is  exceeding  broad,  and  no  string  is  long  enough  to 
measure  it  vertically.  We  speak  the  things  that  we  do 
know.  Alas  for  the  man  who  has  no  experience  of 
paternity  !  For  the  ears  of  such  't  were  idle  to  clothe  in 
verbal  apparel  the  stately  thoughts  which  none  but  dad- 
dies know. 

"  Oh,  paternity  's  a  transcendent  thing; 
There  's  no  telling  what  grandeur  't  would  bring, 
If  a  fellow  was  able  to  give  it  full  swing. 

"  There,  I  feel  better  now.  I  have  been  looking  into 
this  matter  of  parental  affection,  Nolly,  and  am  surprised 
to  see  how  much  there  is  of  it.  I  had  regarded  it  as 
being  almost  exclusively  the  heart's  response  to  that  con- 
sciousness of  ownership  which  I  pointed  out  to  you  as 
the  immediate  agent  in  bringing  patriotism  and  party 
spirit  into  existence.  I  made  up  my  mind  a  good  while 
ago  that  what  is  called  the  parental  instinct  in  the  lower 
animals  is  traceable  to  the  same  cause.  The  parental 
relation  is  not  the  only  one  in  which  they  make  a  certain 
sense  of  proprietorship  observable,  and  it  is  not  difficult 
for  the  evolutionists  to  show  how  the  animal  mind  has 
evoluted in  this  direction.  But  while  I  am  ready  to  go  a 
certain  distance  here  with  the  evolutionists,  our  materi- 
alist friends  will  please  take  notice  that  it  is  the  animal 
mind  and  not  the  animal  body  which  has  been  brought 
into  possession  of  the  consciousness  of  ownership.  Un- 
less a  man  has  metaphysicalized  all  his  common-sense 
to  the  winds,  it  will  forbid  him  to  predicate  conscious- 
ness of  an  organism  purely  material.  But  I  '11  talk  with 


CORRESPONDENCE.  315 

you  about  this  next  summer.  There  is  no  doubt  that  my 
peculiar  affection  for  this  little  girl  baby  starts  out  from 
the  knowledge  that  she  is  mine.  Of  all  the  hundreds  of 
millions  of  earth's  inhabitants  I  am  the  only  male  indi- 
vidual who  can  say  of  this  particular  baby  :  '  She  is 
mine.'  There  is  something  in  this  exclusiveness  which 
sharpens  and  invigorates  my  consciousness  of  ownership, 
and  its  effect  on  the  susceptibility  which  it  addresses  is 
correspondingly  mighty.  There  comes  up  a  great  gush 
of  joy,  and  my  heart  reacts  with  a  great  gush  of  love 
toward  the  object  with  which  my  consciousness  was 
busying  itself  when  it  created  the  joy.  But  this  is  not 
all.  In  that  person  who  is  dearest  to  me,  and  whose  ac- 
cord with  me  is  incomparably  sweeter  than  that  of  any 
other  person,  I  perceive  a  fulness  of  sympathy  which 
can  be  yielded  only  by  the  relation  of  what  I  will  call 
co-parentalism.  Thus  another  fountain  of  joy  is  opened 
in  my  susceptibility  to  perception  of  sympathy,  and  new 
force  is  given  to  the  reaction  of  my  heart  toward  the  lit- 
tle being  that  occasions  all  these  movements  of  my  soul. 
Look  a  little  further.  Do  you  suppose  any  fellow  ever 
became  a  father  without  thinking  more  highly  of  his  own 
importance  in  the  universe  by  reason  of  that  fact  ? 
Without  putting  any  strain  on  my  discerning  power,  I 
discover  within  myself  a  clearly  denned  self-complacency 
in  the  mere  fact  that  I  am  this  baby's  father.  Here,  you 
see,  is  a  stirring  up  of  that  same  susceptibility  to  con- 
sciousness of  goodness  which  I  have  often  mentioned  to 
you  as  our  moral  nature's  '  heart  of  heart.'  But  the 
volume  of  joy  poured  out  by  this  susceptibility  is  swelled 
in  two  other  ways.  I  look  on  this  little  helpless  crea- 
ture,* newly  arrived  in  this  storm-beaten  world,  and  I 
resolve  that  I  will  take  care  of  her,  that  I  will  shield  and 


316  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

foster  her,  that  no  power  of  mine  to  win  her  well-being 
shall  lie  unused.  I  see  the  years  stretching  on  and  on, 
and  through  them  all  I  see  my  assiduous  watch-care  ex- 
tending, and  I  am  conscious  of  a  rich  worthiness  in  that 
mighty  purpose  and  its  persistent  accomplishment.  Once 
more  I  consider  the  responsibility  which  is  laid  upon  me 
in  connection  with  the  existence  of  this  little  immortal, 
and  resolve  that  my  duty  shall  be  done  with  all  possible 
fulness.  Here  my  consciousness  of  goodness  evokes 
that  peculiar  delight  which  is  spoken  of  as  the  fruit  of 
an  approving  conscience.  Now  all  these  delights,  smiled 
out  by  that  queenliest  of  human  susceptibilities,  are 
gathered  around  my  little  baby  by  an  inseparable  associa- 
tion, and  just  in  proportion  to  their  depth  and  intensity 
my  affectional  power  goes  out  to  her.  Is  n't  there 
something  worth  looking  at  in  parental  affection  ?  Of 
course  it  is  not  the  same  in  all  human  beings.  The  char- 
acter of  the  affection  depends  on  the  state  of  the  sus- 
ceptibilities, and  in  proportion  as  the  higher  of  these  are 
obtuse  and  inoperative,  the  affection  receives  its  color 
from  that  consciousness  of  ownership  which  we  have  in 
common  with  the  lower  animals. 

"  You  tell  me  that  you  are  writing  a  book,  and  I  infer 
that  you  intend  to  have  it  published.  Well,  you  will  find 
the  composition  an  excellent  expedient  for  self-develop- 
ment, and  I  guess  you  know  enough  not  to  suffer  very 
much  if  the  public  should  take  no  notice  of  what  you 
have  to  say.  You  are  so  bull-headed  that  if  you  should 
once  make  up  your  mind  to  secure  attention  I  should 
expect  you  to  succeed  in  the  end.  But  the  question  is, 
whether  that  would  pay  or  not.  It  might  take  more  time 
than  the  results  would  justify.  There  is  something  very 
queer  about  this  matter  of  getting  the  attention  of  the 


CORRESPONDENCE.  317 

public  by  literary  work.  In  some  cases  there  is  an  in- 
definable deliciousness  in  a  writer's  style,  or  in  the  play 
of  his  fancy,  which  fully  accounts  for  the  eagerness  with 
which  his  inanities  are  rushed  after.  But  I  don't  believe 
you  have  any  thing  of  that  sort  to  bestow.  I  am 
inclined,  rather,  to  anticipate  that  your  style  will  remind 
us  of  '  the  remainder  biscuit  after  a  voyage.'  Then,  I 
have  been  a  little  puzzled  to  make  out  what  there  is  that 
you  know  enough  about  to  warrant  you  in  spreading  out 
your  views.  You  have  no  scientific  knowledge  ;  and 
your  historical  information  is  very  limited.  You  have  a 
pretty  strong  tendency  to  study  human  beings  ;  and  I 
have  concluded  that  this  is  the  field  in  which  you  are 
working.  Taking  this  to  be  the  case,  let  me  beg  of  you 
not  to  bother  us  by  trying  to  occupy  our  attention  with 
men  and  women  who  are  not  worth  looking  at.  It  is  not 
good  art  to  make  the  insignificant  and  the  unworthy 
conspicuous.  A  painter  dqn/t  choose  a  mud-hole  for  his 
subject.  He  is  always  hunting  after  beauty,  and  he  uses 
its  opposite  only  as  a  foil.  And  this  is  the  appropriate 
literary  use  of  simpletons  and  knaves, — as  foils  to  beauty 
and  strength  in  human  character.  The  wicked  exist  for 
the  benefit  of  the  righteous,  and  the  foolish  for  the 
benefit  of  the  wise  ;  and  there  is  no  true  art  in  according 
a  principal  place  to  that  which  is  subsidiary.  There  is 
no  lack  of  good  subjects  for  portraiture.  If  you  keep 
your  eyes  open  you  will  see  a  great  many  beautiful,  and 
some  majestic  human  characters.  The  most  thorough- 
paced ignoramus  that  walks  our  streets  is  the  cynic. 

"  I  have  got  up  a  new-fashioned  club.  We  call  our- 
selves '  Advanced  Epicureans.'  You  know  that  some  of 
my  rich  friends  have  been  furnishing  me  with  a  good 
deal  of  money  for  charitable  purposes.  I  could  hardly 


318  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

ever  get  them  to  listen  to  any  account  of  the  ways  in 
which  I  meant  to  disburse  the  funds.  If  they  were  not 
too  busy  there  was  always  something  else  which  they 
preferred  to  talk  about.  Charitable  objects  evidently 
lay  outside  of  their  intellectual  range,  and  they  were  not 
disposed  to  extend  the  fences.  Serena  and  I  talked  this 
thing  over  a  great  many  times.  Most  of  these  friends  of 
mine  are  good  fellows,  and  I  have  been  strongly  attached 
to  them  for  years.  But  it  was  evident  that  their  benefi- 
cence was  not  doing  them  any  good.  That,  you  see,  was 
a  bad  state  of  things.  With  money  used  beneficently  it 
ought  to  be,  as  Portia  says  it  is,  with  mercy  :  it  ought  to 
bless  him  who  gives,  as  well  as  him  who  takes.  We  kept 
thinking  this  over  till  we  got  to  feeling  a  stronger  desire 
to  help  these  rich  fellows  than  we  had  to  help  anybody 
else.  Finally  I  made  several  of  them  promise  to  come 
to  my  house  for  an  hour  or  two,  one  Saturday  evening. 
I  had  a  lot  of  laughable  stuff  arranged  in  my  mind,  and 
when  the  proper  time  came  I  let  it  out  upon  them.  I 
began  by  reproaching  them  with  having  subjected  me  to 
temptation  by  supplying  me  with  money  to  use  as  I  saw 
fit  ;  and  I  described  several  absurd  rascalities  which 
they  had  put  it  in  my  power  to  commit.  I  told  them  I 
was  n't  going  to  stand  that  strain  upon  my  virtue  any 
longer,  and  asked  them  how  they  would  like  to  see  me  in 
the  penitentiary  on  account  of  their  recklessness.  As 
they  got  more  and  more  good-natured,  I  worked  my  way 
into  an  explanation  of  the  uses  to  which  I  had  put  their 
money,  and  set  forth  as  effectively  as  I  could  the  benefits 
which  had  accrued.  They  got  thoroughly  interested, 
and  were  evidently  gratified  to  see  that  they  had  been 
doing  so  much  more  good  than  they  had  intended.  The 
talk  became  very  animated,  and  they  all  took  part  in  it. 


CORRESPONDENCE.  319 

At  length  I  called  their  attention  to  the  fun  which  they 
had  formerly  denied  themselves  in  refusing  to  listen  to 
my  explanations,  and  suggested  that,  as  sensible  men  de- 
sirous of  getting  some  enjoyment  out  of  their  money, 
they  should  provide  themselves  with  a  new  recreation  in 
connection  with  this  charitable  work.  The  result  was 
that  we  resolved  ourselves  into  a  club  of  Advanced 
Epicureans.  We  have  had  several  meetings  and  have 
received  more  than  a  score  of  new  members  ;  and  I  re- 
gard the  club  as  a  permanent  institution.  It  would  do 
you  good  to  see  how  the  hearts  of  these  fellows  are 
broadening  out  and  mellowing,  and  how  much  more  the 
human  race  is  to  them  than  it  was  a  few  weeks  ago.  I 
make  a  report  at  every  meeting,  and  there  is  always 
something  in  it  which  calls  out  comments  and  practical 
suggestions.  These  business  heads  will  straighten  out 
in  two  minutes  a  matter  which  I  have  been  puzzling  my- 
self over  for  a  week.  There  is  much  discussion  of 
different  modes  of  beneficence  ;  and  I  am  glad  to  per- 
ceive how  much  importance  is  attached  to  the  selection 
and  training  of  good  workers  in  the  various  spheres  of 
usefulness.  There  is  a  general  disposition  among  us  to 
gather  definite  information  as  to  the  equipment  of  the 
colleges  for  scientific  instruction.  There  is  no  doubt  of 
our  being  ready  to  endow  psychological  professorships 
as  fast  as  the  institutions  are  prepared  to  exchange  meta- 
physical mystification  for  psychological  teaching. 

"  Of  course,  the  over-supply  of  the  labor  market  is  seen 
to  be  the  unparalleled  source  of  distress  ;  and  this  sub- 
ject is  held  up  in  many  different  lights.  Phil  Rickerman 
contended  one  evening  that  all  efforts  to  promote 
sobriety,  cleanliness,  and  good  habits  generally,  among 
the  poorer  classes,  as  well  as  all  sanitary  measures  for 


320  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

their  benefit,  must  prove  pernicious  in  the  end,  because 
such  proceedings  tend  to  bring  about  the  survival  of  the 
unfittest  and  to  aggravate  all  the  evils  incident  to  an 
over-stocked  labor  market.  But  Job  Mollison  charged 
that  the  laying  down  of  this  doctrine  was  an  attempt  to 
curtail  our  opportunities  for  recreation.  He  said  that 
we  were  entitled  to  the  fun  of  relieving  and  precluding 
suffering,  and  were  under  no  obligation  to  bother  our- 
selves with  the  ultimate  consequences  pointed  out  by 
Rickerman.  The  serious  conviction  is  that  Providence 
or  celestial  regulations,  can  be  relied  upon  to  make  sure 
that  good  to  the  world,  on  the  whole,  shall  result  from 
such  efforts  as  are  indispensable  to  our  moral  growth  and 
elevated  enjoyment,  although  there  has  been  no  explicit 
statement  of  that  view. 

"We  are  beginning  to  have  a  strong  predilection  for  in- 
vestments which  will  involve  a  demand  for  labor  and 
prove  beneficial  to  the  poor  in  other  ways.  There  is 
more  or  less  discussion  of  the  feasibility  of  opening  out- 
lets from  the  large  cities  by  establishing  colonies  on  the 
unoccupied  lands  of  the  Southwest  ;  and  some  of  these 
business  men  make  it  seem  very  clear  to  me  that  invest- 
ments on  that  line  can  be  made  very  remunerative  and 
widely  beneficent.  Mollison  has  broached  another  im- 
mense project.  He  suggests  that  we  build  an  under- 
ground railroad  the  whole  length  of  the  island,  and  then 
have  a  surface  extension  to  some  point  beyond  Harlem 
River,  where  we  can  obtain  suitable  space  for  an  un- 
limited number  of  tenement-houses.  He  would  have 
the  underground  section  so  far  below  the  surface  that  it 
can  be  laid  out  without  reference  to  the  courses  of  the 
streets  and  without  detriment  to  any  proprietary  rights. 
The  occupants  of  the  tenement-houses  are  to  be  entitled 


CORRESPONDENCE.  321 

to  free  transportation  on  the  railroad,  and  the  laws  of 
the  land  are  to  be  supplemented  by  such  regulations  as 
every  proprietor  has  a  right  to  adopt  as  to  what  shall  be 
required,  or  prohibited,  within  the  territory  subject  to 
his  exclusive  control.  I  will  explain  the  whole  scheme 
to  you  when  we  meet.  Job  has  got  it  worked  out  very 
fully. 

"AVe  all  consider  it  extremely  desirable  that  our  rich 
people  should  adopt  more  expensive  customs,  and  that 
fashion  should  become  more  potent  in  creating  a  demand 
for  labor.  At  our  last  meeting  I  described  a  small  table 
on  which  an  Italian  had  bestowed  twenty-five  years  of 
toil.  This  was  thrown  out  to  suggest  how  many  mouths 
could  be  filled  in  the  course  of  providing  furniture  for  a 
single  parlor.  Our  rich  ladies  ought  to  make  more  use 
of  embroidery  and  of  such  other  ornamentation  as  calls 
for  the  work  of  female  hands.  You  can  see  how  the 
education  of  taste,  and  the  enlargement  of  capacity  for 
enjoying  the  beautiful,  might  be  made  to  go  hand  in. 
hand  with  the  furnishing  of  employment  to  those  who 
need  it.  When  we  get  a  little  further  along  in  our  civil- 
ization, fashion  will  begin  to  demand  recognition  as  a 
beneficent  power." 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
MISS  LOYALTY'S  AFFAIRS. 

letters  received  in  the  course  of  the  spring  the 
following  facts  came  to  our  knowledge  : 
Orrin  Barleck  left  the  seminary  some  time  in  Feb- 
ruary. His  first  measure  was  the  selection  of  his  field 
of  labor  ;  and  after  visiting  several  other  cities,  he  con- 
cluded that  missionary  work  was  most  needed  in  the 
lower  part  of  New  York.  Accordingly,  he  rented  in 
that  locality  a  hall  which  had  been  used  sometimes  for 
dancing  and  sometimes  for  gambling.  By  putting  up 
posters  and  having  notices  handed  about,  he  soon  gath- 
ered a  congregation.  There  was  much  disorder  in  the 
meetings  at  first  ;  but  the  police  captain  of  the  district 
soon  perceived  in  Orrin's  enterprise  an  aid  to  the  pre- 
vention of  crime,  and  gave  such  orders  that  no  disturb- 
ance of  the  exercises  could  be  carried  very  far.  Orrin's 
original  design  was  to  pay  all  the  expenses  of  the  mission 
from  his  own  income  ;  but  he  soon  had  to  admit  the 
need  of  much  pecuniary  help  in  order  that  his  opportu- 
nities for  usefulness  might  be  fully  improved.  The  gas- 
bills  were  found  to  be  heavy  ;  many  new  seats  had  to  be 
provided  for  the  increasing  congregations  ;  a  janitor  had 
to  be  employed,  and  hymn-books  had  to  be  bought.  Be- 
sides, he  desired  to  secure  the  frequent  use  of  a  number 
of  smaller  rooms,  located  here  and  there,  for  prayer- 
meetings.  He  attached  much  importance  to  having  as 

322 


MISS    LOYALTY  S    AFFAIRS.  323 

many  persons  as  possible  take  part  in  such  meetings  ; 
and,  as  several  of  his  adherents  were  confident  of  their 
qualifications,  and  professed  their  readiness  to  conduct 
religious  exercises  in  public,  he  looked  forward  to  the 
time  when  he  could  have  several  prayer-meetings  in 
progress  simultaneously.  Moreover,  he  remembered 
Paul's  earnestness  in  collecting  funds  for  the  relief  of 
needy  saints  ;  and  Le  was  surrounded  by  persons  who 
claimed  to  belong  to  that  class.  As  might  have  been 
expected,  these  pecuniary  necessities,  at  the  outset,  were 
made  known  to  the  Jormans,  and  their  response  was 
prompt  and  liberal.  But  circumstances  soon  caused  all 
applications  in  that  quarter  to  cease. 

For  several  weeks  after  Orrin  had  entered  upon  his 
his  work  he  visited  his  old  friends  quite  frequently,  and 
spoke  very  enthusiastically  of  what  he  hoped  to  accom- 
plish. He  always  chose  a  seat  by  Kitty's  side,  and 
usually  held  her  hand  in  his  while  he  explained  his  plans  to 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jorman.  Very  often  his  language  implied 
that  he  expected  Kitty  to  be  soon  in  full  co-operation 
with  him  as  his  wife,  although  he  had  not  asked  her  to 
appoint  the  time  for  their  marriage.  Mrs.  Jorman  drew 
from  her  the  fact  that  she  was  entirely  in  the  dark  as  to 
Orrin's  wishes  on  that  subject.  At  the  same  time,  Kitty 
insisted  upon  a  promise  that  nothing  should  be  said  to 
him  with  the  design  of  eliciting  an  expression  of  those 
wishes.  Still,  it  became  increasingly  evident  that  the 
uncertainty  which  she  would  not  allow  to  be  dispelled 
was  very  painful  to  her.  While  she  would  not  permit 
her  aunt  to  question  the  propriety  of  Orrin's  silence,  it 
was  easy  to  see  that  she  felt  it  to  be  incompatible  with, 
such  a  love  as  her  heart  was  craving.  Besides,  this  un- 
certainty as  to  the  time  when  her  marriage  would  take 


324  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

place  seemed  to  make  her  whole  future  uncertain.  She 
felt  herself  unable  to  treat  a  married  life  as  a  prospective 
reality,  or  to  form  any  plans  in  relation  to  it,  until  she 
could  lay  hold  on  some  fixed  point  of  time  for  its  begin- 
ning. Thus  her  imagination  was  kept  from  familiarizing 
her  with  the  way  of  life,  the  associations,  and  the  class 
of  duties  which  she  assumed  that  Orrin  had  chosen  for 
her.  Could  she  have  looked  forward  with  clear  expec- 
tation to  a  particular  time  when  that  new  life  would 
commence,  such  was  the  strength  of  her  impulses  and 
the  consequent  force  of  her  will,  that  she  would  have 
accepted  her  prospective  lot  in  all  heartiness,  and  might 
have  come  to  feel  that  she  could  make  herself  at  home 
in  it.  But,  on  account  of  the  lack  of  such  a  starting- 
point  for  plans  and  day-dreams,  the  sense  of  her  personal 
unfitness  for  missionary  work  among  the  most  depraved 
inhabitants  of  the  city  was  constantly  growing  upon  her. 
Another  circumstance  added  to  Kitty's  troubles  and 
increased  the  anxiety  of  the  Jormans.  It  was  observed 
that  Orrin  not  only  indicated  no  desire  for  advice,  but 
seemed  totally  incapable  of  taking  in  any  practical  sug- 
gestions let  fall  for  his  benefit.  On  this  point  Jorman 
wrote  me  :  "  As  a  stimulant  to  self-sufficiency  nothing 
can  equal  an  unregulated  zeal  for  righteousness.  When 
the  paramount  impulse  is  a  desire  to  do  right,  and  a  fel- 
low's interest  comes  to  be  centred  on  a  special  work, 
the  strength  of  his  conviction  as  to  the  importance  of 
that  work  is  in  direct  proportion  to  the  intensity  of  his 
interest.  Then,  if  he  is  unpractised  in  observing  his  own 
mental  processes,  he  is  sure  to  estimate  the  general 
power  of  his  understanding  by  the  burning  consciousness 
of  that  overwhelming  conviction.  When  other  men  fail 
to  adopt  his  conception  of  the  relative  importance  of  his 


MISS    LOYALTY  S    AFFAIRS.  325 

special  work,  they  prove  to  him  that  their  understandings 
are  inferior  to  his.  It  is  in  this  way  that  fanatics  come 
to  regard  themselves  as  infallible.  If  I  had  not  so  many 
reasons  for  deploring  this  feature  of  Orrin's  present  state 
of  mind,  I  should  be  highly  amused  by  the  smile  of  su- 
periority with  which  he  dismisses  suggestions  offered  by 
Serena  and  myself.  But  I  have  such  a  view  of  the  bat- 
tle which  is  going  on  in  Miss  Loyalty's  big  heart  that  I 
sometimes  feel  that  I  can  never  be  amused  again  at  any 
thing.  Her  insight  is  marvellously  sharp,  and  she  sees 
the  absurdity  of  Orrin's  self-sufficiency  as  clearly  as  I 
do,  but  is  determined  that  she  won't  have  it  so.  She  is 
constantly  insisting  to  herself  that  her  failure  to  see 
things  as  he  does  is  due  to  her  own  unworthiness.  She 
might  find  a  little  unsatisfactory  rest  in  such  a  conclu- 
sion, were  it  not  for  her  knowledge  that  the  view  which 
she  is  trying  to  get  rid  of  is  entertained  by  her  aunt. 
There  is  torture  for  her  in  the  thought  of  being  out  of 
sympathy  either  with  Serena  or  with  Orrin.  But  the 
dear  child  is  braver  than  Joan  of  Arc.  She  gives  no 
sign  of  succumbing  or  repining.  Her  safety  lies  in  the 
same  vehemence  of  aff  ectional  power  that  makes  all  these 
things  so  intensely  painful  to  her.  That  reactive  force 
keeps  her  in  a  fighting  attitude  ;  and  you  know  that 
there  is  no  danger  of  our  sinking  under  troubles  so  long 
as  they  make  us  mad  enough  to  declare  that  the  evils 
which  appear  imminent  shall  never  be  experienced." 

As  the  weeks  passed  away  it  became  evident  that  Or- 
rin's state  of  mind  was  undergoing  a  change.  Nothing 
indicated  any  abatement  of  his  confidence  in  his  own 
judgment.  On  the  contrary,  it  became  increasingly  clear 
that  he  expected  all  his  utterances  to  be  accepted  as 
final.  The  disappointments  which  he  encountered,  and 


326  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

the  failure  of  certain  measures  which  he  had  undertaken, 
wrought  no  admission  of  an  error  in  judgment.  Their 
first  effect  was  to  embitter  him  toward  his  fellow-men 
and  dispose  him  to  expatiate  on  human  wickedness. 
But  he  was  too  intellectual  to  persist  in  ascribing  his 
own  failures  to  the  perverseness  of  others  where  he  was 
unable  to  discern  a  relation  of  cause  and  effect,  and  his 
desire  to  have  his  own  heart  right  was  so  sincere  and  so 
ardent  that  the  embitterment  within  him  did  not  long 
escape  his  notice.  The  result  was  that  he  became  pro- 
foundly dissatisfied  with  his  moral  state.  He  began  to 
talk  of  being  unworthy  of  success  in  his  Master's  cause, 
and  of  the  impossibility  of  a  blessing  on  such  half- 
hearted work  as  his.  He  expressed  himself  in  that 
strain  on  one  occasion,  till  Kitty's  patience  gave  out 
completely.  She  declared  that  it  was  wicked  for  him  to 
talk  in  that  way  ;  that  there  was  not  one  minister  out  of 
a  million  who  would  make  such  sacrifices  as  he  was 
making  for  the  sake  of  doing  good,  and  that  if  the  Lord 
wanted  any  thing  more  there  was  no  use  in  trying  to 
please  Him.  Jorman  interposed  with  the  remark  that 
the  usefulness  of  service  can  never  be  accurately  meas- 
ured by  external  signs,  and  Mrs.  Jorman  expressed  the 
opinion  that  the  Master  often  withholds  blessings,  for  a 
period,  to  test  and  develop  the  faith  of  His  servants. 
But  none  of  these  considerations  had  any  weight  with 
Orrin.  "  I  appreciate  your  kindly  feelings,"  he  said,  in 
a  patronizing  tone,  as  he  rose  to  leave,  "  though  it  would 
have  been  a  very  sad  thing  for  me  if  you  had  succeeded 
in  making  me  satisfied  with  myself.  I  know  I  have 
heretofore  consecrated  myself  but  very  imperfectly.  I 
have  clung  to  a  dream  which  it  is  my  duty  to  renounce. 
I  see  what  is  required  of  me,  and  I  am  praying  for  grace 


MISS    LOYALTY  S    AFFAIRS.  327 

to  be  fully  obedient."  As  he  uttered  these  last  words  he 
staggered  against  the  door-way  in  manifest  agony,  but 
mastered  himself  immediately  and  rushed  from  the 
house. 

In  recounting  this  incident,  Jorman  wrote  :  "  You  can 
imagine  something  that  would  answer  as  a  faint  sugges- 
tion of  the  state  in  which  Orrin  left  us.  What  renuncia- 
tion he  had  in  mind  was  perfectly  clear  to  us  all.  We 
were  all  silent  and  all  motionless.  I  was  afraid  to  look 
at  Miss  Loyalty.  When  I  caught  Serena's  eyes  she 
turned  them  toward  the  Book  upon  the  table  by  which  I 
was  sitting.  I  read  portions  of  the  last  address  to  the 
disciples,  beginning  with,  '  Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled,' 
and  ending  with,  '  In  the  world  ye  have  tribulation  : 
but  be  of  good  cheer  ;  I  have  overcome  the  world.' 
Then  I  knelt  down  and  asked  for  just  exactly  what  I 
wanted  ;  and  I  got  it.  I  don't  care  a  snap  what  any- 
body's theory  of  prayer  is.  It  is  enough  for  me  to  know 
that  the  use  of  such  a  resource  at  such  a  time  is  in  strict 
accordance  with  the  dictates  of  common  sense,  and  that 
its  value  is  questioned  only  by  those  who  are  proud  of 
their  ignorance." 

That  was  the  last  of  Orrin's  visits  at  the  Jorman  home. 
Two  or  three  days  afterwards,  he  wrote  Kitty  that  he 
dared  not  trust  himself  in  her  presence  again  ;  that  his 
eyes  had  been  opened  to  the  terrible  truth  that  compan- 
ionship with  her  could  be  only  self-indulgence  on  his 
part ;  that  entire  consecration  to  his  Master's  work  was  in- 
compatible with  the  union  to  which  he  had  looked  forward 
with  such  fervent  joy,  and  that  he  should  be  false  to  his 
own  soul  if  he  should  adopt  a  lower  rule  of  action  than 
the  one  exemplified  in  the  celibacy  of  Paul. 

The  letter  was  a  long  one,  but  the  above  were  the  only 


328  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

points  in  it  which  Kitty  would  disclose.  Mr.  Jorman 
had  no  doubt,  however,  that  Orrin's  love  found  such  ex- 
pression in  the  hour  of  its  crucifixion  as  he  had  never 
before  had  power  to  give  it.  This  view  was  confirmed  in 
a  letter  from  Kitty  to  my  wife.  "  I  don't  feel  humiliated 
a  bit,"  she  wrote  ;  "and  I  am  ashamed  of  ever  having 
felt  that  he  would  have  begged  for  an  early  wedding-day 
if  he  had  loved  me  enough.  I  don't  believe  anybody 
else  could 'love  as  he  does  ;  and  I  am  very  proud  of  his 
being  conscientious  and  strong  enough  to  give  me  up.  It 
is  going  to  be  pretty  hard  for  your  foolish  little  Loyey  to 
think  of  there  being  a  thick  high  wall  between  her  and 
Orrin,  so  that  she  can  never  see  him  comforted  again  by 
having  her  near  him.  But  I  don't  care  any  thing  about 
what  I  have  got  to  suffer  myself.  It  makes  me  feel  as 
if  I  was  going  to  have  a  part  in  Orrin's  great  work, 
when  I  see  how  much  it  will  cost  me.  But,  oh  !  it  is 
dreadful  to  think  of  his  being  disappoinied  and  tired  out 
and  having  his  nerves  all  unstrung,  and  not  having  any 
little  hand  on  his  forehead.  Do  come  as  soon  as  you  can, 
Lissey  dear.  Uncle  Psycho  and  Aunt  Serena  are  just  as 
sweet  and  tender  as  anybody  in  the  world  could  be.  But 
they  are  so  high  up  that  their  love  seems  to  drop  down 
upon  me  ;  and  I  want  it  to  come  in  sideways,  as  yours 
would." 

Both  Mr.  Jorman  and  his  wife  urged  us  to  come  upon 
a  second  visit  as  soon  as  possible,  and  we  had  such  a 
feeling  for  Kitty  that  we  lost  no  time  in  setting  about  the 
necessary  arrangements.  Colonel  Orlington  was  able  to 
exercise  a  general  oversight  of  matters  on  my  plantation 
until  the  close  of  John's  term  at  school ;  and  my  mother 
and  Dolly  were  to  spend  their  vacation  at  Ellermere. 
Aunt  Phyllis  was  to  accompany  us  as  nurse,  and  her 


MISS    LOYALTY  S    AFFAIRS.  329 

daughter  was  promoted  to  the  charge  of  the  kitchen. 
But  my  wife  did  not  postpone  exertion  on  Kitty's  behalf 
to  the  commencement  of  our  visit.  As  on  many  other 
occasions,  a  prophetic  spirit  was  engendered  by  her  con- 
stitutional hopefulness.  Within  two  days  of  the  time 
when  we  received  information  of  Orrin's  self-martyrdom, 
she  said  to  me  :  "  Loyey  is  going  to  be  happy  yet.  I 
know  it  as  well  as  I  know  any  thing  in  the  world.  Orrin 
will  get  into  such  distress  that  he  can't  keep  himself  from 
crying  out  for  her.  Then  she  will  go  to  him,  and  he  will 
see  that  he  can't  do  any  good  without  having  her  to  keep 
his  mind  composed."  Lissey  reiterated  this  prediction 
in  her  letters  and  urged  upon  Kitty  the  duty  of  keeping 
herself  strong  in  body  and  calm  in  mind,  so  that  she 
might  be  ready  for  the  call  which  was  sure  to  come. 

We  found,  on  our  arrival  in  New  York,  that  the  effect 
on  Kitty's  mind,  of  my  wife's  prediction,  had  been 
highly  salutary.  "  You  have  given  me  something  to  live 
for,"  said  the  brave  girl,  when  they  were  by  themselves 
for  the  first  time.  "  I  was  all  scattered  about  and 
could  n't  see  any  way  to  be  of  use  to  anybody.  I  began  to 
lose  my  appetite  and  could  n't  get  any  sound  sleep.  I 
knew  I  was  making  everybody  in  the  house  miserable, 
and  could  n't  help  thinking  what  a  good  thing  it  would 
be  if  I  should  die.  I  thought,  one  time,  there  would  be 
some  satisfaction  in  my  having  a  little  of  the  same  kind 
of  work  that  Orrin  is  doing,  and  I  got  Uncle  Psycho  to 
take  me,  one  Sunday  afternoon,  to  what  they  call  a 
'ragged  school.'  He  had  the  superintendent  give  me  a 
class  of  girls,  and  I  tried  to  teach  them.  But  some  of 
them  were  so  dull,  and  the  rest  of  them  were  so  impu- 
dent, that  I  lost  my  temper  two  or  three  times.  Every 
thing  was  so  disagreeable  that  I  had  the  biggest  kind  of 


330  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

a  cry  when  I  got  home.  I  guess,  though,  I  should  have 
determined  to  break  myself  into  the  work  if  your  letter 
had  n't  come.  That  made  me  see  that  I  had  no  right  to 
•worry  myself  to  death  over  what  I  was  so  unfit  for.  It 
ain't  as  though  there  were  not  aplenty  of  teachers  for  the 
ragged  schools  who  can  do  that  work  a  thousand  times 
as  well  as  I  can.  Now,  I  don't  feel  anywhere  near  as 
sure  as  you  do  that  Orrin  will  ever  call  for  me  ;  but  as 
long  as  it  \?> possible  that  he  will,  I  ought  to  keep  myself 
ready  all  the  time,  and  I  am  going  to  do  it." 

It  was  plain  that  Kitty,  for  the  first  time  in  her  life, 
had  entered  upon  a  course  of  rigid  self-discipline.  With 
the  design  of  preserving  a  "  healthy  mind  in  a  healthy 
body,"  she  was  exercising  much  of  that  practical  common- 
sense  which  was  the  most  conspicuous  characteristic  of 
her  aunt  ;  and  she  was  thorough-going  in  proportion  to 
the  intensity  of  her  emotional  nature.  The  force  of  will, 
resulting  from  the  fervor  of  her  impulses,  gave  her  ex- 
ceptional power  for  the  management  of  her  thoughts. 
Her  conceptions  of  Orrin,  struggling,  wearied,  disap- 
pointed, instead  of  causing  her  to  fall  into  melancholy 
brooding,  impelled  her  to  interest  herself  in  all  the  be- 
neficent work  of  her  uncle  and  aunt,  to  gather  in  sub- 
stantial knowledge  and  to  seek  such  recreations  as  she 
found  to  be  salutary.  Lissey  found  her  very  reticent  on 
the  subject  of  devotional  exercises,  but  became  con- 
vinced that  she  was  "  sustained  and  soothed  by  an 
unfaltering  trust." 

The  marriage  of  Orrin  and  Kitty  was  so  complete  a 
prospective  reality  to  my  wife  that  it  came  to  be  treated 
in  conversation  as  an  event  that  was  sure  to  take  place. 
Then,  of  course,  the  two  friends  had  their  imaginations 
much  occupied  with  the  married  life  which  was  to  ensue. 


MISS    LOYALTY  S    AFFAIRS.  331 

They  agreed  that  Kitty's  missionary  efficiency  was  to  be 
realized  through  Orrin's  labors.  She  was  to  make  his 
place  of  rest  delightful,  to  watch  over  his  health,  to  en- 
courage and  advise  him.  They  pictured  to  themselves 
various  difficulties  which  he  would  encounter  and  con- 
trived solutions  which  they  found  highly  satisfactory.  In 
recounting  these  things  to  me,  Lissey  commended  Kitty's 
practical  wisdom  in  the  strongest  terms,  and  assured  me 
that  Orrin  would  lean  upon  her  judgment  more  and  more. 
Mr.  Jorman  and  I  were  far  from  sharing  my  wife's 
sanguine  expectation  of  Orrin's  recognizing  his  need  of 
Kitty.  It  seemed  to  us  altogether  probable  that  any 
distress  into  which  he  might  fall  would  serve  only  to 
stimulate  his  misguided  craving  for  total  self-renuncia- 
tion. Jorman  said  that  a  man's  suffering  for  a  line  of 
action,  which  he  believed  to  be  obligatory  on  him,  was 
like  a  mother's  suffering  for  her  child, — that  in  both 
cases  the  attachment  was  strengthened,  and  perse- 
verance was  made  more  probable.  I  went,  one  Sunday 
morning,  to  hear  Orrin  preach,  and  found  no  warrant  for 
hopefulness  on  Kitty's  behalf.  His  countenance  pre- 
sented an  incipient  haggardness  which  made  me  believe 
that  his  splendid  physical  constitution  could  not  long 
endure  the  strain  to  which  he  was  subjecting  it.  His 
manner  and  intonations  were  governed  entirely  by  the 
topics  which  successively  occupied  his  thoughts,  but  at 
no  time  were  they  even  suggestive  of  mental  composure. 
His  text  was  :  "  Be  filled  with  the  Spirit,"  and  his  points 
were  :  i.  The  conditions  on  which  one  can  be  filled 
with  the  Spirit  ;  2.  The  need  of  being  filled  with  the 
Spirit  ;  3.  The  blessedness  of  being  filled  with  the  Spirit. 
Under  the  first  head,  as  I  expected  when  I  heard  it 
announced,  he  dwelt  on  the  necessity  of  casting  away 


332  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

every  source  of  enjoyment  which  can  possibly  militate 
against  perfect  self-consecration  ;  and,  as  he  unfolded 
his  conception  of  the  renunciation  required,  the  lines  of 
his  countenance,  the  tones  of  his  voice,  and  all  his  atti- 
tudes and  gestures  were  so  expressive  of  fierce  determi- 
nation and  of  readiness  to  be  offered,  that  I  said  to  my- 
self :  "  It  is  folly  to  dream  of  his  ever  returning  to 
Kitty."  In  discussing  his  second  topic  he  set  forth  the 
sinfulness  of  his  hearers  and  the  consequences  of  its  per- 
sistence with  such  appalling  vehemence  and  such  terrific 
imagery,  that  loud  groans  burst  forth  in  all  parts  of  the 
room.  When  he  began  to  speak  of  the  blessedness  of  be- 
ing filled  with  the  Spirit,  he  faltered  for  some  moments 
and  betrayed  some  confusion  of  thought.  But  this  em- 
barrassment had  all  the  effect  of  a  masterly  oratorical 
device.  It  gave  his  hearers  time  to  recover  from  the 
effects  of  the  denunciations  and  warnings  which  had 
just  been  poured  out  upon  them  ;  and  they  were  again 
at  his  absolute  control  as  soon  as  he  was  himself  envel- 
oped in  the  atmosphere  of  his  new  topic.  In  a  short 
time  his  imagination  was  all  on  fire,  and  its  creations 
were  accepted  by  himself  as  the  deliverances  of  con- 
sciousness. "  I  testify  to  you  at  this  moment,"  he  ex- 
claimed, "  I  demonstrate  to  you  here  and  now,  that  the 
soul  of  man  has  the  high  privilege  of  being  filled  with 
the  Spirit  of  God.  I  invite  you  all  to  stand  with  me  on 
this  exalted  plane.  Come  up  !  Come  up,  beloved 
friends  !  Let  us  dwell  in  the  light  which  blazes  around 
the  throne  of  Omnipotence." 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  services  I  made  my  way  to 
the  platform  and  shook  hands  with  the  preacher.  He 
was  evidently  pleased  to  see  me,  and  referred  at  once 
to  the  impression  made  on  his  mind  by  my  remarks  at 


MISS   LOYALTY  S   AFFAIRS.  333 

the  prayer-meeting  in  Jacksonville.  "  I  have  always 
believed,"  he  said,  "  that  the  Lord  made  you  largely  in- 
strumental in  effecting  my  salvation.  I  have  recognized 
a  special  interposition  in  your  being  sent  to  that  bar- 
room for  me.  It  has  seemed  to  me  that  there  was  no 
other  man  in  the  world  with  whom  I  should  have  gone 
from  the  place  voluntarily." 

I  expressed  my  gratification  and  the  hope  that  his 
rescue  would  redound  greatly  to  the  benefit  of  the  world. 
Then  I  told  him  that  my  wife  was  at  Mr.  Jorman's  and 
would  be  pleased  to  meet  him.  He  clasped  his  forehead 
convulsively  with  his  right  hand  for  a  moment,  and  then 
said,  in  a  broken  voice  :  "  I  should  be  very  glad  to  get 
acquainted  with  Mrs.  Bidrop,  but  I  am  not  yet  strong 
enough  to  call  there." 

"  Well,"  I  responded,  "  you  will  know  my  address,  and 
if  I  can  aid  you  in  any  way  while  I  am  in  New  York,  I 
hope  you  will  permit  me  to  do  so." 

It  was  natural  that  my  account  of  what  I  had  wit- 
nessed should  occasion  remarks  concerning  the  termina- 
tion of  Edward  Irving's  career,  and  on  the  "  speaking 
with  tongues  "  at  his  meetings.  My  wife's  hopes  were  a 
little  shaken  at  first,  but  they  soon  rallied,  and  she  said 
to  me  in  a  very  confidential  tone  :  "  You  will  see  yet  that 
Kitty  is  going  to  save  Orrin  from  Edward  Irving's  fate. 
The  cases  are  totally  different.  Mr.  Irving  gave  up  the 
only  woman  he  ever  loved,  and  married  another.  That 
alone  was  enough  to  make  him  crazy.  It  may  not  come 
around  just  as  I  have  been  thinking  it  would.  Orrin 
may  break  down  in  such  a  way  that  it  will  be  Kitty's 
duty  to  go  to  him  whether  he  calls  for  her  or  not." 

Kitty  shrank  from  receiving  an  account  of  the  services 
directly  from  me,  but  she  questioned  my  wife  on  the 


334  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

subject.  Lissey  told  her  what  I  had  said  of  Orrin's 
wonderful  eloquence  and  of  the  impression  made  upon 
his  hearers.  She  thought  it  best,  also,  to  refer  to  our 
conversation  concerning  Edward  Irving,  in  order  that 
Kitty  might  be  preparing  herself  for  an  intervention  not 
requested  by  Orrin.  Mr.  Jorman  took  measures  for 
being  furnished  with  daily  information  of  Orrin's  pro- 
ceedings and  apparent  condition.  But  a  solution  of 
the  whole  problem  was  brought  about  in  a  way  of  which 
no  one  could  have  dreamed  beforehand. 

Among  the  persons  who  were  in  the  habit  of  dropping 
in  upon  the  Jormans  whenever  they  were  so  inclined 
was  a  lawyer  by  the  name  of  Nextor.  He  was  a  slender, 
wiry  man,  about  fifty  years  old,  with  a  mercurial  temper- 
ament ;  and  his  manners  and  style  of  conversation  were 
altogether  his  own.  He  told  us,  one  evening,  that  he 
was  to  argue  an  important  case  before  a  jury  the  next 
day,  and  Jorman  and  I  determined  to  go  and  hear  him. 
There  was  much  talk  among  frequenters  of  the  court- 
rooms about  the  effectiveness  with  which  Mr.  Nextor 
handled  testimony  ;  and  we  were  convinced  on  this  oc- 
casion that  his  reputation  was  well  founded.  There  was 
no  ambitiousness  in  his  oratory.  He  spoke  mainly  in  a 
conversational  tone,  though  he  occasionally  uttered  two 
or  three  sentences  with  great  vehemence.  We  observed 
that  he  drew  illustrations  from  several  lines  of  business, 
and  inferred  that  he  was  aiming  to  make  his  points  clear 
to  men  engaged  in  those  pursuits.  Then  he  surprised  us 
by  entering  all  at  once  on  abstractions  and  delivering  an 
a  priori  argument  in  which  we  could  see  no  great  force. 
But  this  was  followed  by  a  masterly  recapitulation  of  all 
the  preceding  arguments  ;  and  they  were  left  in  a  solid 
array  which  seemed  to  us  invincible.  We  stopped  to 


MISS  LOYALTY'S  AFFAIRS.  335 

congratulate  Mr.  Nextor,  and  Jorman  said  to  him  :  "  I 
want  to  talk  this  over  with  you.  Come  in  this  evening, 
won't  you  ? " 

"  O  yes,"  was  the  reply  ;  "  I  '11  come.  I  've  been 
hungering  for  a  little  flattery  a  long  time." 

The  desired  commendation  was  bestowed,  that  even- 
ing, very  freely  and  with  entire  sincerity.  "  But  I  want 
to  ask  you,"  said  Jorman,  "  what  induced  you  to  work  in 
that  a  priori  argument  ?  " 

"  O,"  said  Nextor,  "  I  had  a  metaphysical  crank  on 
the  jury,  and  it  was  necessary  to  humbug  him.  Com- 
mon-sense reasoning  has  no  weight  with  him.  We  have 
to  be  philosophical  with  such  fellows,  and  the  further  we 
are  from  understanding  our  own  arguments  the  surer  we 
are  of  having  the  cranks  on  our  side.  They  take  it  for 
granted  that  a  lawyer  has  a  good  case  when  he  treats 
them  with  mystification  and  waddles  around  a  little  while 
in  their  fog-bank." 

"You  were  acquainted  with  the  man,  were  you?" 
"  No  ;  I  never  exchanged  a  word  with  him.  But  I.  al- 
ways know  all  about  my  juries.  We  have  a  man  in  our 
office  who  devotes  nearly  all  his  time  to  gathering  the 
necessary  information  and  writing  them  up.  You  would 
be  amused  at  some  of  the  annotated  lists  that  he  hands 
me.  He  usually  has  them  complete  before  the  evidence 
is  all  in.  If  he  needs  more  time  I  get  it  for  him  by  re- 
calling witnesses,  or  raising  a  nonsensical  objection  to 
some  question  and  arguing  on  it  very  profoundly.  I 
seldom  address  a  jury  before  understanding  its  composi- 
tion thoroughly." 

Mr.  Nextor  was  led  on  to  speaking  at  length  on  the 
argumentative  devices  which  he  had  learned  to  employ  ; 
and  he  wound  up  by  saying  :  "  When  I  have  a  good  case 


336  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

and  know  my  men  I  am  always  sure  of  a  verdict."  Then 
he  turned  abruptly  to  me  and  asked  what  I  had  been 
reading  when  he  came  in.  I  was  sitting  by  the  drop- 
light  with  one  of  Froude's  "  Carlyle  books  "  in  my  hand. 
"  Well,"  he  said,  as  I  gave  him  the  title  of  the  volume, 
"begin  where  you  left  off,  and  let 's  see  how  it  runs." 

After  reading  several  pages  I  came  upon  the  passage 
in  which  it  is  related  that  Jane  Carlyle  said,  in  speaking 
of  Edward  Irving's  vagaries  :  "  There  would  have  been 
no  '  tongues  '  if  he  had  married  me." 

"  Hold  on  there  !  By  George  !"  Jorman  exclaimed, 
from  a  thoughtless  impulse.  This  threw  Kitty  off  her 
balance,  and  she  sputtered  out :  "  You  need  n't  hold 
on  at  all.  It  's  all  nonsense.  She  had  no  business  to 
say  any  such  thing  ;  and  I  don't  believe  she  ever  said  it. 
Old  Froude  don't  know  beans  anyway."  She  rushed  to 
the  piano  and  began  to  bang  it  furiously. 

"  I  think  a  little  music  is  what  we  want,"  said  Mrs. 
Jorman,  with  forced  composure,  as  she  took  the  vacant 
stool  at  Kitty's  side.  "  Sha'  n't  we  try  that  duet  again, 
darling  ?  " 

They  managed  to  get  through  the  piece,  and  then 
Kitty  wondered  what  made  her  so  sleepy,  and  left  the 
room.  In  a  few  minutes  my  wife  followed  her.  Mrs. 
Jorman  sat  buried  in  thought,  and  her  husband  was  so 
chagrined  at  his  blunder  that  he  had  nothing  to  say. 
Nextor  and  I  tried  to  force  a  little  conversation  on  what 
I  had  been  reading  ;  but  we  made  poor  work  of  it.  At 
length  Mrs.  Jorman  lifted  her  eyes  from  the  floor  ;  and 
her  expression  was  that  of  one  who  has  reached  a  satis- 
factory conclusion. 

"  You  have  made  up  your  mind  to  forgive  your  blunder- 
ing old  husband,  have  you  ? "  said  Jorman. 


MISS  LOYALTY'S  AFFAIRS.  337 

"  There  is  nothing  to  forgive,"  she  answered,  as  she 
came  and  placed  her  hand  on  his  shoulder.  "  I  think  it 
very  fortunate, — no,  I  will  say  what  I  mean, — I  think  it 
providential  that  all  this  conversation,  with  the  reading 
and  what  followed  it,  has  taken  place.  I  hope  you  will 
employ  Mr.  Nextor  to  secure  a  verdict  for  us.  He  can 
get  a  chance  to  argue  the  case  by  sending  a  note  to  the 
— the  jurymen,  saying  that  a  client  authorizes  him  to 
give  five  hundred  dollars  to  some  mission,  and  asking 
for  a  personal  interview.  I  believe  lawyers  don't  like  to 
have  ladies  present  when  they  are  talking  with  their 
clients.  It  is  so  hard  for  us  to  keep  secrets,  you  know. 
Good-night." 

"Hurrah  for  us  !"  Jorman  exclaimed.  "Won't  you 
be  kind  enough,  my  dear,  before  going  to  bed,  to  step, 
out  into  the  middle  of  the  street  and  shout  '  Eureka' 
two  or  three  times  ?  " 

The  case  of  Orrin  and  Kitty  was  explained  to  Mr. 
Nextor  as  fully  as  possible,  and  he  became  deeply  in- 
terested in  it.  "  This  promises  to  be  a  '  cause  cleberej  " 
he  said.  "  The  saving  of  that  young  man  is  the  point  to 
keep  in  view.  Our  little  friend,  Miss  Loyalty,  is  already 
saved.  She  is  all  right  for  this  world  and  all  the  other 
worlds.  But  this  marriage  is  the  only  thing  that  can 
keep  the  preacher  from  going  to  hell  in  short  order.  He 
is  to  be  convinced  of  his  duty  in  the  matter.  Where  is 
his  spouting-place  ?  I  want  to  see  him  on  the  rampage 
before  I  meet  him  privately.  I  shall  be  likely  to  call  on 
you  next  Sunday  afternoon,  to  get  some  of  his  gospel 
explained  to  me  ;  I  'm  not  very  well  up  in  such  matters." 

When  my  wife  slipped  away  from  us  she  went  imme- 
diately to  Kitty's  room  and  found  her  weeping  and 
angry.  She  was  angry  with  Mr.  Jorman  and  more  so 


338  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

with  herself.  "  It  was  so  stupid  in  Uncle  Psycho  to 
bawl  out  in  that  way,"  she  said.  "  But  that  would  n't 
have  done  any  harm  if  I  had  n't  had  to  be  a  little  spite- 
ful dunce  myself.  Oh,  I  wish  somebody  was  to  blame 
for  my  not  having  any  sense,  so  that  I  could  scratch  his 
face  for  him.  Nobody  has  any  business  to  know  that  I 
care  any  thing  about  what  Jane  Carlyle  said,  but  I  had  to 
let  it  all  out.  I  've  made  it  look  as  if  I  got  into  tan- 
trums because  Orrin  would  n't  marry  me,  and  was  so 
conceited  that  I  thought  I  could  keep  him  from  going 
crazy  if  I  was  his  wife." 

Lissey  convinced  the  poor  girl  that  there  was  no 
reason  for  her  distress,  since  she  had  exhibited  nothing 
but  the  strength  of  her  unselfish  feelings.  "  You  have  a 
sacred  mission,  dear,"  said  the  comforter,  "  and  such 
little  accidents  as  this  are  not  worth  looking  at  for  a 
moment." 

Mr.  Nextor  came  to  us  early  in  the  afternoon  of  Sun- 
day, and  made  it  evident  at  once  that  he  had  been 
profoundly  impressed.  "  The  case  opens  up  splendidly," 
he  said.  "  That  Barleck  is  worth  saving.  He  is  tre- 
mendously eloquent  and  has  a  plenty  of  brains.  The 
best  of  it  was  that  he  did  n't  have  a  thought  of  the  figure 
he  was  cutting.  He  was  driving  away  at  his  work,  and 
all  taken  up  with  trying  to  make  his  hearers  see  what  was 
best  for  them.  He  's  a  splendid  fellow,  but  he  '11  go  all 
to  pieces  very  soon  unless  I  can  win  my  case.  Before 
he  got  through  there  was  a  gleam  in  his  eyes  that  I 
did  n't  like,  and  he  showed  that  he  was  aspiring  to  such 
a  spiritual  condition  as  would  be  entirely  incompatible 
with  sanity." 

The  text,  it  appeared,  had  been  :  "  Be  ye  therefore 
perfect."  Mr.  Nextor  gave  us  an  extended  account  of 


MISS   LOYALTY  S   AFFAIRS.  339 

the  discourse,  but  it  is  sufficient  to  say  here  that  Orrin 
treated  perfection  as  identical  with  sinlessness,  dwelt  at 
great  length  on  the  necessity  of  crucifying  sin,  and  as- 
sumed, throughout,  the  possibility  of  living  sinlessly  in 
this  world.  "  Now,"  said  the  lawyer,  "  I  am  sure  that 
he  is  wrong,  and  that  the  spiritual  condition  which  he 
describes  so  glowingly  can't  be  obligatory  on  us  here,  be- 
cause it  is  simply  impossible  and  would  unfit  us  for  the 
duties  of  life  if  we  could  get  into  it.  But  it  won't  do 
for  me  to  engage  him  in  argument  till  my  own  notions 
are  cleared  up  a  little.  Now,  Jorman,  what  is  the  Bible 
view  of  sin  when  you  get  to  the  bottom  of  it  ? " 

"  Well,"  my  friend  replied,  "  according  to  the  ety- 
mology of  the  word  in  the  Greek  Testament  sinning  is  miss- 
ing the  mark,  and  sin  is  that  which  causes  us  to  miss  the 
mark — what  jogs  the  soul's  elbow  when  it  is  taking  aim." 

"  Very  well.     Now,  what  is  the  mark  ?  " 

"  What  is  best  ;  the  highest  attainable  good.  The  old 
pagan  Greeks  assumed  that  every  man  kept  that  mark  in 
view.  Even  Socrates  held  to  this  doctrine,  and,  conse- 
quently, ascribed  every  man's  misdeeds  to  errors  of  un- 
derstanding as  to  what  was  best  for  him. "  Well,  all  the 
Greek  thinkers  saw  very  clearly  that  the  highest  attaina- 
ble good  could  not  be  realized  without  the  observance  of 
certain  ethical  rules,  and  that  the  mark  was  missed 
by  every  infraction  of  such  a  rule.  In  this  way,  I 
suppose,  unrighteous  conduct  came  to  be  spoken  of  as  a 
missing  of  the  mark.  Then  the  New  Testament  writers 
took  up  the  word  and  broadened  and  deepened  its  mean- 
ing, as  they  did  the  meanings  of  many  other  words 
which  they  found  in  the  Greek  vocabulary.  They  lo- 
cated righteousness  and  unrighteousness  in  the  mental 
nature,  and  called  upon  us  to  observe  rules  for  the  regu- 


34°  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

lation  of  our  emotions,  impulses,  and  faculties.  They 
taught  us  that  missing  the  mark  resulted  from  the  non- 
observance  of  the  rules  pertaining  to  our  inner  lives,  and 
they  extended  the  same  figure  to  the  tendency  which 
causes  these  rules  to  be  disregarded." 

"  Well,  what  is  your  conception  of  that  tendency  ?  " 

"  It  is  a  tendency  to  subordinate  all  other  ends  to 
speedy  gratification.  In  other  words,  it  is  a  perverted, 
pampered,  overgrown,  tyrannical  desire  of  pleasure, 
which  benumbs  our  higher  impulses,  contaminates  our 
emotions,  and  cripples  our  understandings." 

"You  make  it  out  a  pretty  tough  customer  to  deal 
with.  Barleck  spoke  a  great  deal  about  crucifying  sin, 
but  I  could  n't  see  just  how  he  proposed  to  do  it." 

"  The  only  effectual  way  is  through  such  invigoration 
and  activity  of  the  higher  impulses  as  will  force  the 
desire  of  pleasure  to  keep  within  its  legitimate  sphere." 

"  I  see.  It  looks  to  me  as  if  I  ought  to  be  able  to 
show  Barleck  that  he  is  going  at  this  thing  in  the  wrong 
way.  He  needs  to  give  some  of  his  affections  a  better 
chance  to  grow.  He  ought  to  have  the  help  of  other 
associations  and  new  ties.  Well,  what  about  being  per- 
fect ? " 

"  Orrin  is  all  wrong  in  making  perfection  identical 
with  sinlessness.  In  his  text  the  word  '  perfect '  means 
fully  developed,  or  full-grown.  But  it  is  sometimes  em- 
ployed to  designate  attainment  to  a  certain  stage  of 
development,  although  much  growth  is  still  to  take 
place.  In  such  cases  it  has  a  meaning  analogous  to 
what  we  have  in  mind  when  we  call  a  baby  '  perfect.' 
We  mean  that  it  is  symmetrically  formed.  The  ultimate 
perfection  toward  which  we  are  exhorted  to  struggle  is 
the  symmetrical  completeness  of  our  personalities." 


MISS   LOYALTY  S    AFFAIRS.  34! 

"  There,  that  's  all  I  want,  if  you  will  equip  me  for 
proving  that  your  interpretation  is  correct.  I  can  show 
Barleck  that  he  is  getting  further  and  further  away  from 
such  perfection  as  that  every  day.  He  's  wretchedly 
one-sided  already.  I  can  describe  the  atmosphere  he 
needs  to  be  in,  and  the  surroundings  that  such  a  fellow 
as  he  is  must  have,  before  he  can  experience  any  normal 
growth." 

Two  or  three  hours  were  then  spent  by  Jorman  and 
Nextor  over  a  concordance,  the  Greek  and  English 
versions  of  the  New  Testament,  and  a  Greek  lexicon. 
The  note  was  sent  to  Orrin  on  Monday,  and  he  was 
requested  to  call  at  Nextor's  office  the  next  morning  at 
ten  o'clock.  On  Tuesday  evening  Jorman  and  I  went 
around  to  Nextor's  house  to  hear  his  report  of  the  first 
interview.  My  statement  of  what  had  taken  place  must 
be  a  condensed  one.  The  lawyer  made  minute  inquiries 
concerning  Orrin's  enterprise,  and  the  uses  for  which  he 
needed  money,  and  drew  out  a  full  account  of  what  he 
hoped  to  accomplish.  Then  the  importance  of  the  work 
was  discussed,  and  Nextor  expressed  his  appreciation  of 
it  in  very  strong  terms.  "  But,  Mr.  Barleck,"  he  said, 
when  he  thought  his  way  was  sufficiently  paved,  "  I  am 
afraid  that  you  will  wear  yourself  out  before  you  get  the 
movement  under  such  headway  that  your  personal  lead- 
ership will  not  be  indispensable  to  its  further  progress. 
In  that  case  it  would  amount  to  very  little.  Don't  you 
think  that  you  ought  to  economize  your  strength  and 
preserve  the  elasticity  of  your  powers  by  providing  your- 
self with  surroundings  and  associations  favorable  to 
repose  ? " 

To  this  Orrin  replied  :  "  No  particular  worker  is  nec- 
essary to  the  Master.  He  will  determine  the  length  of 


342  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

my  period  of  labor,  and  dismiss  me  from  the  field  when 
it  shall  seem  to  Him  good  to  do  so.  For  myself,  I  have 
only  to  be  fully  consecrated,  to  work  while  it  is  day,  and, 
whatsoever  my  hands  find  to  do,  to  do  it  with  my  might." 

Nextor  argued  that  a  man  could  not  be  fully  conse- 
crated unless  he  placed  all  the  powers  of  his  understand- 
ing at  the  service  of  his  Master.  He  insisted,  also,  on 
the  obligation  of  a  minister  to  economize  his  resources 
of  every  kind  by  the  constant  exercise  of  the  same 
common-sense  which  a  successful  man  applies  to  his 
business.  But  Orrin  replied  :  "  The  wisdom  of  this 
world  is  one  thing,  and  the  wisdom  that  comes  from 
above  a  very  different  thing." 

The  lawyer  saw  that  he  was  making  no  impression 
with  his  first  point,  and  was  a  little  vexed  by  the  air  of 
conscious  superiority  with  which  his  arguments  had  been 
waved  aside.  He  said,  therefore  :  "  I  suppose  you  do 
not  claim  to  be  infallible.  You  are  ready  to  admit,  are 
you  not,  that  it  is  possible  for  you  to  be  mistaken,  and 
possible  that  you  might  gain  a  better  knowledge  than 
you  now  have  of  the  New  Testament  ? "  Orrin  was  evi- 
dently much  startled  by  these  words,  and  uttered  a  dis- 
claimer with  great  emphasis. 

"  Well,"  Nextor  resumed,  "  I  heard  you  preach  yester- 
day, and  I  am  very  sure  that  you  presented  one  or  two 
views  which  are  not  in  harmony  with  the  teachings  of 
the  Bible.  They  are  points  which  I  have  taken  occasion 
to  investigate  very  thoroughly,  and  I  feel  a  great  interest 
in  them." 

Orrin's  unconscious  assumption  of  infallibility  had 
just  been  so  much  disturbed  that  he  was  now  eager  for 
an  explanation  ;  and  the  lawyer  proceeded  to  unfold  the 
arguments  on  Sin  and  Perfection,  for  which  he  had 


MISS  LOYALTY'S  AFFAIRS.  343 

gathered  materials  Sunday  afternoon.  He  said  to  Jor- 
man  and  myself,  in  reporting  the  discussion  :  "  The 
preacher  let  me  take  my  own  course.  He  did  n't  get 
into  a  polemical  attitude  for  an  instant,  and  only  inter- 
rupted me  with  a  few  questions  for  the  obvious  purpose 
of  getting  me  to  make  myself  clearer.  In  winding  up  I 
went  at  him  with  what  the  dominies  used  to  call  '  an  ap- 
plication '  when  I  was  a  boy.  I  described  the  associa- 
tions which  he  ought  to  have  in  order  that  sin  might  be 
precluded  by  the  growth  and  expansion  of  pure  affections, 
and  I  dwelt  very  earnestly,  but  not  long  enough  to  arouse 
suspicion,  on  the  help  which  a  loving  wife  could  give 
him  in  his  struggle  for  symmetrical  completeness.  He 
was  very  much  agitated  when  I  was  on  this  point  ;  but  I 
tried  to  avoid  the  appearance  of  noticing  it,  and  so  I 
can't  tell  just  what  turn  his  feelings  were  taking.  I  told 
him  I  should  make  a  favorable  report  to  my  client,  and 
had  no  doubt  that  I  should  have  the  five  hundred  dol- 
lars ready  for  him  if  he  would  call  at  ten  o'clock  to- 
morrow. Suppose  you  come  to  my  office  at  two,  and 
see  how  near  I  am  to  my  verdict." 

.  Jorman  was  hopeful,  on  the  whole,  but  not  at  all  san- 
guine. "  The  shaking  of  his  confidence  in  his  own 
convictions,"  he  said,  "  is  a  great  thing  for  the  fellow. 
And  his  being  brought  into  an  inquiring  frame  on  Sin 
and  Perfection  is  an  excellent  indication.  He  has  heen 
unconsciously  assuming  that  it  is  impossible  for  him  to 
receive  any  new  light  on  those  subjects.  But  that  idea 
of  renunciation  has  got  a  tremendous  hold  upon  him, 
and  will  stir  him  up  against  any  plan  which  embraces  his 
temporal  welfare." 

When  we  called  at  Nextor's  office,  Wednesday  after- 
noon,  we  found   him  much  disturbed.     "  I  don't  know 


344  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

how  it  is  coming  out,"  he  said.  "  The  case  took  an 
unexpected  turn,  and  I  had  to  adopt  a  new  line  on  the 
spur  of  the  moment.  Barleck  came  in  promptly  at  ten 
o'clock.  He  was  pale  and  haggard  ;  but  his  self-com- 
mand appeared  to  be  complete.  I  told  him  I  feared  he 
had  not  enjoyed  a  good  night's  rest,  and  he  answered 
that  he  had  not  rested  at  all.  He  said  that  he  had  been 
passing  through  a  fearful  struggle,  but  that  the  grace  of 
God  had  brought  him  out  triumphant.  I  asked  him  if 
he  was  willing  to  explain  the  nature  of  that  struggle  to 
me,  and  he  proceeded  to  do  so.  He  said  the  adversary 
had  been  making  use  of  the  views  which  I  presented 
yesterday  in  a  terrible  assault  upon  him,  with  the  design 
of  seducing  him  into  disloyalty  to  his  Master.  '  You 
brought  back  to  my  imagination,'  he  said,  '  a  vision  of 
conjugal  bliss  which  I  had  formerly  cherished  for  years, 
as  I  never  cherished  any  other  vision  ;  and  I  felt  such 
an  inexpressible  longing  to  make  that  dream  a  reality 
that  my  steps  had  wellnigh  slipped.  I  recalled  all  your 
arguments,  and  weighed  them  one  by  one  again  and 
again,  and  was  on  the  point  of  accepting  them  as  con- 
clusive, when  the  Spirit  of  God  recalled  to  my  mind  the 
fact  that  I  had  already  been  given  to  see,  by  a  light  as 
clear  as  that  of  heaven  itself,  the  incompatibility  of  con- 
jugal happiness  with  such  a  self-consecration  as  my 
Master  required  of  me.  Then  I  saw  that  the  only 
question  was  whether  I  would  be  false  to  my  Master 
or  not  ;  and  the  grace  was  given  me  to  answer  in  the 
negative.'  " 

"  That,"  the  lawyer  continued,  "  was  a  stage  of  the 
proceedings  which  I  had  not  anticipated.  I  could  take 
only  a  minute  or  two  for  reflection,  and  so  I  had  to 
think  pretty  fast.  I  had,  in  the  first  place,  to  decide  a 


MISS  LOYALTY'S  AFFAIRS.  345 

point  which  comes  up  with  me  pretty  often.  I  was  get- 
ting mad  as  a  hornet,  and  the  question  was  whether  I 
should  choke  down  my  anger,  or  let  it  slide.  I  decided 
on  the  latter  course,  and  said  to  the  preacher  :  '  I  have 
no  doubt  that  you  have  had  an  interview  with  the  Devil. 
But  he  did  n't  strike  you  where  you  think  he  did.  His 
trick  was  to  stimulate  your  self-righteousness  and  urge 
you  on  to  persist  in  a  suicidal  course  that  you  could  be 
pharisaic  over.  He  wants  you  to  kill  yourself  or  go 
crazy,  as  soon  as  you  can.  In  those  days  when  you  used 
to  entertain  that  vision  that  you  speak  of,  did  you  want 
any  particular  woman  for  your  wife,  or  was  it  all  an 
abstraction  ? ' 

"  '  I  loved  the  most  precious  girl  on  earth,'  he  an- 
swered, '  and  loved  her  with  all  my  heart.'  I  then 
asked  him  if  his  love  was  returned,  and  he  said  it  was, 
most  fully.  I  drew  out  the  fact  of  his  engagement  and 
the  fact  of  his  abandoning  the  young  lady  without  any 
fault  on  her  part.  Then  I  asked  him  what  excuse  he 
could  offer  for  his  conduct,  and  he  answered  :  '  My  duty 
to  my  Master.'  'Well,'  said  I,  'if  your  Master  wants 
you  to  act  like  an  infernal  scoundrel  towards  a  woman, 
he  can't  be  my  Master.  I  don't  want  to  hear  another 
word  on  the  subject.  I  've  got  something  better  to 
attend  to.  I  've  got  a  case  of  a  poor  widow  against  a 
cursed  old  Shylock  who  is  trying  to  cheat  her,  and  God 
Almighty  wants  me  to  get  justice  for  her.  There  's  the 
check  for  your  five  hundred  dollars.'  I  pushed  the 
check  across  the  table  and  began  to  fumble  my  papers. 
He  stared  at  me  for  a  minute,  as  if  his  wits  had  all  left 
him,  and  walked  out  of  the  room,  leaving  the  check 
where  it  was." 

"  Well,"  said  Jorman,  "  you  have  given  him  a  shock 


346  THE   PSYCHOLOGIST. 

which  will  either  bring  him  to  his  senses  or  send  him  to 
an  asylum.  I  am  glad  that  I  have  got  a  man  looking 
after  him.  If  this  don't  set  him  right,  there  is  no  hope 
for  him.  What  is  the  reason  that  I  never  had  sense 
enough  to  make  him  see  his  conduct  toward  Miss  Loyalty 
in  its  true  light  ?  " 

We  returned  to  Thirty-fourth  Street,  but  had  not  been 
there  more  than  an  hour  when  the  telephone-bell  rang, 
and  I  was  told  that  Mr.  Bidrop  was  called  for.  I  an- 
nounced my  presence  at  the  instrument  and  asked  "  Who 
is  there  ? " 

"  Orrin  Barleck,"  was  the  answer.  "Will  you  come 
immediately  to  Mr.  Jorman's  room  on  Tenth  street  ? " 

"I  will  come  at  once,"  I  replied,  and  stepped  into  the 
library  for  the  key.  As  I  came  back  into  the  hall,  my 
wife  was  standing  in  the  parlor  door-way,  and  I  told  her 
that  Orrin  wanted  me  to  meet  him  on  Tenth  Street. 

"Put  your  arm  around  me,  Lissey,"  said  a  broken 
voice,  "  and  keep  it  around  me.  Take  me  into  auntie's 
working-room." 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  Kitty  had  been  kept 
in  complete  ignorance  of  our  arrangement  with  Mr.  Nex- 
tor.  But  the  simple  fact  of  Orrin's  summoning  me  to  an 
interview  made  her  feel  that  a  momentous  crisis  had 
arrived. 

I  found  the  young  man  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs,  and 
he  leaned  heavily  on  my  arm  as  we  ascended  to  Jor- 
man's room.  We  took  seats  on  opposite  sides  of  the  long 
table,  and  he  began  to  talk  in  a  trembling  voice,  with  his 
head  resting  on  his  hand,  while  his  features  betokened  a 
distress  which  excited  the  deepest  pity  of  which  I  was 
capable.  "  I  have  got  to  have  advice,"  he  said.  "  I  am 
convinced  that  it  would  be  wrong  for  me  to  trust  to  my 


MISS    LOYALTY  S    AFFAIRS.  347 

own  judgment,  for  I  can't  see  my  way  clear  in  any  direc- 
tion. As  soon  as  I  admitted  to  myself  that  I  needed 
counsel,  my  thoughts  turned  instantly  to  you.  I  know 
you  to  be  a  conscientious  Christian  man,  and  I  have 
great  confidence  in  your  practical  understanding.  You 
have  no  such  crotchets  and  strange  theories,  as  Mr. 
Jorman  is  always  putting  forward.  I  want  to  know  what 
my  duty  is.  As  God  is  my  judge,  I  am  conscious  of 
being  ready  to  do  His  will  if  I  can  only  have  it  made 
clear  to  me." 

He  then  gave  me  an  account  of  his  interviews  with 
Mr.  Nextor,  and  concluded  with  the  charge  that  he  had 
acted  "  like  an  infernal  scoundrel  towards  a  woman." 

"  Now,  Mr.  Bidrop,"  he  said,  "  I  want  to  know  if  my 
treatment  of  Kitty  appears  to  you  in  the  same  light  in 
which  Mr.  Nextor  sees  it.  Have  I  been  acting  wickedly 
towards  her  ?" 

I  hesitated  to  answer,  because  my  pity  for  the  young 
man  made  the  truth  appear  cruel.  But  he  begged  me  to 
be  entirely  sincere  and  plain  with  him,  and  I  said  :  "We 
all  know  that  your  conduct  was  dictated  by  a  desire  to 
do  what  you  supposed  to  be  the  Lord's  will,  and  that  it 
cost  you  such  a  sacrifice  as  human  beings  have  seldom 
equalled.  But,  putting  your  motives  out  of  sight  and 
applying  the  rule  of  rectitude  to  the  line  of  action  which 
you  adopted,  I  am  compelled  to  say  that  I  can  see  no 
justification  for  your  course.  If  I  had  broken  off  my 
own  engagement  with  the  woman  who  is  now  my  wife 
while  there  was  no  fault  to  be  alleged  against  her,  I 
should  have  been  guilty  of  deliberate  and  atrocious 
wickedness.  In  my  view  such  action,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, is  not  only  contrary  to  the  rules  of  Christian 
morality,  but  it  is  entirely  inconsistent  with  the  honor  of 


348  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

a  gentleman.  In  saying  this,  I  am  merely  giving  ex- 
pression to  sentiments  which  are  general  among  thinking 
men  in  all  Christian  lands  ;  and  it  is  very  difficult,  if  not 
impossible,  for  a  man  who  is  known  to  have  broken  an 
engagement  of  that  kind,  without  fault  on  the  woman's 
part,  to  gain  recognition  as  a  conscientious  person." 

"  Do  you  say  then,"  he  asked,  as  he  struggled  to  bear 
up  under  the  blow  which  I  had  given,  "  that  even  a 
special  call  from  the  Master  cannot  justify  such  con- 
duct ?" 

"  I  say  it  is  impossible  that  the  Master  should  put 
forth  a  special  call  to  unrighteous  action.  I  cannot  con- 
ceive of  the  meek  and  lowly  Jesns  requiring  a  man  to 
break  a  loving  heart." 

He  sat  for  some  minutes  in  silent  agony,  and  then  ex- 
claimed :  "  I  see  it  all.  Oh,  how  blind  I  have  been  ! 
My  poor,  poor  Kitty  !  Have  I  murdered  you  ?  Oh  !  is 
there  any  mercy  for  me  ?  " 

"  '  A  bruised  reed  shall  he  not  break.'  Those  words 
are  for  you,  Orrin,  as  well  as  for  Kitty.  Remember  the 
Divine  commiseration  which  is  never  withheld  from  a 
contrite  sinner.  Besides,  reparation  is  still  in  your 
power,  and  it  may  turn  out  that  all  these  experiences 
have  been  serving  to  fit  you  both  for  higher  usefulness." 

"  Do  you  think  that  Kitty  will  let  me  come  back  to 
her  ?  "  he  cried,  springing  to  his  feet,  with  staring  eyes. 

"  It  would  not  be  right,"  I  answered,  "  for  me  to  ex- 
press an  opinion  on  that  subject.  Nothing  is  required 
of  you  except  what  lies  in  your  own  power.  The  repara- 
tion will  be  complete  when  you  manifest  a  desire  to  go 
back  to  her." 

"  Desire  to  go  back  to  her!  "  he  exclaimed  with  an  in- 
describable pathos  in  his  tones.  "  Oh,  how  I  have 


MISS  LOYALTY'S  AFFAIRS.  349 

struggled  and  writhed  and  prayed  for  the  annihilation  of 
that  desire  !  But  it  lost  none  of  its  strength,  and  I 
settled  down  at  last  in  the  conclusion  that  it  was  given 
me  as  a  '  thorn  in  the  flesh  '  which  I  must  carry  to  my 
grave.  I  want  to  thank  God  for  showing  me  how  blind 
I  have  been." 

I  knelt  with  him,  and  he  poured  out  a  prayer,  which  I 
will  not  attempt  to  describe.  When  he  rose  from  his 
knees  he  was  entirely  calm,  and  a  subdued  thoughtful- 
ness  was  expressed  in  his  eyes. 

"  Have  I  been  entirely  mistaken,"  he  asked,  "  in  sup- 
posing that  a  renunciation  is  required  of  me  ? " 

I  replied  :  "  I  am  not  capable  of  going  into  such  a 
subject  very  deeply  ;  but  I  have  the  impression  that  a 
general  renunciation  is  required  of  us  all,  and  that  it  has 
its  place  in  a  steadfast  purpose  to  deny  ourselves  all 
gratifications  incompatible  with  fidelity  to  the  Master. 
If  we  maintain  that  purpose,  opportunities  for  particular 
renunciations  will  come  to  us  fast  enough.  But  let  me 
ask  you,  Orrin,  if  it  is  not  going  to  cost  you  a  struggle  to 
banish  the  dream  of  making  your  external  life  a  close 
imitation  of  the  life  of  Paul  ?  Have  you  not  been  am- 
bitious to  realize  a  homelessness,  and  to  encounter  trials, 
similar  to  his  ?  And  then,  it  is  not  improbable  that,  after 
looking  the  ground  all  over  dispassionately,  you  will  see 
that  your  highest  usefulness  involves  the  turning  of  your 
back  on  fame  and  other  glittering  prizes  which  are  un- 
doubtedly within  the  reach  of  a  man  possessing  your 
gifts.  There  will  be  enough  for  you  to  renounce." 

He  admitted  the  correctness  of  my  impression  as  to 
his  desire  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  Paul,  and  saw 
plainly  that  there  would  be  no  lack  of  opportunities  for 
self-denial.  He  was  clearly  of  the  opinion  that  he  should 


350  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

see  it  to  be  his  duty  to  continue  laboring  in  the  field 
which  he  had  first  selected,  but  declared  his  purpose  to 
keep  his  mind  open  to  new  light  on  the  probabilities  of 
usefulness  in  other  spheres.  "  I  will  not  treat  any  sub- 
ject of  that  nature  as  finally  closed,"  he  said,  "  but  will 
endeavor  to  give  due  weight  to  all  considerations  which 
may  come  to  my  notice." 

This  remark  led  us  to  recur  to  what  Mr.  Nextor  had 
said  concerning  the  importance  of  economizing  one's 
strength  and  the  necessity  of  consecrating  one's  under- 
standing. We  talked  on  that  line  at  considerable  length, 
and  Orrin  confessed  that  he  had  been  squandering  his 
power  and  had  been  greatly  at  fault  in  not  availing  him- 
self of  needful  relaxation.  In  speaking  of  his  future 
course  I  mentioned  association  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jor- 
man  as  a  valuable  resource  for  him.  His  response, 
however,  convinced  me  that  he  had  a  very  erroneous 
conception  of  my  friend's  character,  and  I  took  occasion 
to  state  some  facts  illustrative  of  his  sagacity  and  of  his 
elevated  impulses.  I  gave  an  account  of  Jorman's  con- 
version, the  Advanced  Epicureans,  and  the  Tuesday 
Afternoons,  and  expressed  what  I  felt  in  regard  to  the  in- 
tellectual and  moral  rnfluences  which  pervaded  the 
household.  Then  I  pointed  to  the  Greek  inscription  : 
"  Ouk  diakonethenai,  alia  diakonesai,"  and  told  how 
Jorman's  choice  of  that  motto  was  making  itself  felt  as 
far  away  as  South  Carolina. 

"  I  thank  you  for  telling  me  all  this,"  Orrin  said.  "  It 
makes  me  feel  that  I  have  discovered  a  new  treasure 
belonging  to  my  Master.  There  is  a  luxury  in  contem- 
plating such  beneficence,  and  I  trust  it  will  find  a  new 
channel  in  making  me  better  qualified  for  my  work." 

By  this  time  the  growing  darkness  had  attracted  my 


MISS  LOYALTY'S  AFFAIRS.  351 

attention,  and  I  said  :  "  Come,  let  us  go  up  to  Thirty- 
fourth  Street." 

"  Do  you  think  I  had  better  go  there  to-night  ?  "  he 
asked. 

"  By  all  means,"  I  answered.  "  Nothing  else  is  to  be 
thought  of.  You  must  go  and  stay  with  us  till  you  get 
fully  rested." 

He  rose  and  took  my  arm,  with  the  remark  :  "  The 
sooner  I  learn  my  fate"  the  better  it  will  be  for  me." 

Lissey  was  watching  for  the  click  of  my  latch-key  and 
met  us  near  the  door.  "  I  knew  you  would  bring  him," 
she  said.  "  I  am  very  glad  to  see  you,  Mr.  Barleck." 

"  I  will  introduce  Mr.  Barleck  to  you  after  you  have 
talked  with  him  an  hour  or  two,"  I  said.  But  Lissey  was 
too  happy  to  suffer  much  from  my  comment  on  her  im- 
pulsiveness. She  seated  us  in  the  library  and  then 
passed  into  the  working-room.  In  two  or  three  minutes 
she  reappeared,  and  beckoned  to  Orrin.  He  obeyed  her 
with  a  visible  lack  of  composure,  and  she  closed  the 
door  upon  him  and  flew  to  a  seat  in  my  lap.  "  If  I 
had  n't  known  all  the  time,"  she  said,  "  that  some  thing  of 
this  sort  was  coming,  I  don't  believe  I  should  have  been 
able  to  stand  it.  O  what  a  dear  old  ridiculous  Nolly  you 
are  ! " 

I  pass  over  the  two  happy  days  during  which  Orrin 
was  recovering  from  what  he  called  his  "  spiritual  de- 
bauch." On  Saturday  morning  he  announced  his  inten- 
tion to  go  to  the  room  on  Tenth  Street  and  prepare  a 
sermon.  He  had  previously  asked  me  if  I  thought  it  his 
duty  to  make  a  public  confession  as  to  the  spirit  in 
which  he  had  been  working,  and  I  had  advised  very  em- 
phatically against  such  a  course.  Jorman  and  I  accom- 
panied him  to  his  hall  on  Sunday  morning.  His  text 


352  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

was  :  "  Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest." 

"  That  is  preaching"  said  Jorman,  as  the  sermon 
ended.  "  There  is  no  such  thing  as  measuring  the  bene- 
fit which  these  people  will  receive  from  such  talking  as 
that.  Orrin  is  on  the  right  track  now,  and  I  guess  he 
will  stick  to  it.  But  I  want  to  see  him  and  Miss  Loyalty 
yoked  up  as  soon  as  possible.  He  never  will  be  found 
among  the  tombs,  cutting  himself  with  stones,  while  he 
has  her  to  watch  over  him." 

Before  the  next  Sunday  Orrin  and  Kitty  were  married 
and  had  gone  to  a  quiet  retreat  among  the  Adirondacks. 
It  was  evident  that  the  gifted  young  preacher's  condition, 
both  physical  and  mental,  required  a  prolonged  period  of 
repose,  and  Jorman  volunteered  to  take  the  general 
oversight  of  his  mission  during  his  absence,  and  see  that 
services  should  be  kept  up  in  the  hall.  Although  it  was 
still  mid-summer,  my  wife  and  I  had  conclusive  reasons 
for  returning  at  once  to  our  home,  and  Aunt  Phyllis  was 
sure  that  the  baby  would  be  better  off  at  Ellermere  than 
anywhere  else.  The  strongest  motive  for  our  immediate 
departure  was  our  desire  to  be  with  my  mother  and 
Dolly  during  the  remaining  weeks  of  their  vacation. 
We  found  John  Orlington  quartered  at  Ellermere  for  his 
better  convenience  in  managing  the  plantation,  and  we 
had  our  thoughts  about  what  the  future  might  have  in 
store  for  Dolly. 

Two  or  three  months  after  the  return  of  Orrin  and 
Kitty  to  New  York,  Mr.  Jorman  wrote  me  as  follows  : 

"All  our  hopes  for  Miss  Loyalty  are  more  than  re- 
alized. She  and  her  preacher  will  stay  with  us  through 
the  winter,  but  she  aspires  to  the  charge  of  a  home  of 
her  own  and  says  she  must  be  in  that  dignified  position 


MISS  LOYALTY'S  AFFAIRS.  353 

before  she  can  think  of  herself  as  any  thing  but  a  snub- 
nosed  midget.  Miss  Cutterra  has  taken  a  great  fancy  to 
her,  and  is  drawing  her  out  wonderfully  and  making  her 
quite  active  at  the  Tuesday  Afternoons.  Under  this 
training  Miss  Loyalty  is  disclosing  intellectual  treasures 
for  which  Serena  and  I  never  gave  her  credit.  We  knew 
that  she  spent  a  great  deal  of  time  with  books,  but  she 
never  had  any  thing  to  say  about  what  she  had  read. 
Did  you  ever  hear  of  such  reticence  combined  with  such 
impulsiveness  ?  The  truth  is  that  her  dissatisfaction  with 
her  size,  complexion,  features,  and  temper,  grew  into  a 
general  self-distrust. 

"  Orrin  is  getting  to  be  one  of  the  most  level-headed  fel- 
lows in  New  York.  The  remembrance  of  his  experience 
is  making  him  very  careful  and  conscientious  in  trying 
to  get  at  the  truth  on  all  sides  of  every  matter  with 
which  he  has  to  deal  ;  and  his  intellectual  clamps  are 
reaching  out  in  all  directions  and  acquiring  vigor  very 
rapidly.  He  and  I  are  going  through  a  regular  course 
in  Psychology,  and  he  is  already  convinced  that  a  man 
who  don't  know  much  about  human  souls  has  no 
business  to  meddle  with  them.  He  is  greatly  interested 
in  the  reciprocal  operations  of  the  susceptibilities  and 
the  intellectual  faculties.  The  Advanced  Epicureans 
have  taken  his  mission  in  charge  and  become  responsible 
for  all  its  expenses,  on  condition  that  he  shall  permit 
them  to  fit  him  up  a  home  according  to  their  own  no- 
tions. Tom  Clonmell  keeps  on  the  watch  for  the  scamps 
who  think  they  can  make  a  '  good  thing '  out  of  the  mis- 
sion. Tom  has  undertaken,  also,  to  furnish  the  Epi- 
cureans with  the  information  necessary  to  the  defeat  of 
rascally  schemes  for  plundering  the  city  treasury  and  for 
crushing  villains  who  become  candidates  for  elective 


354  THE    PSYCHOLOGIST. 

offices.  We  are  working  up  an  understanding  with  a 
body  of  citizens  without  whose  consent  no  man  can  have 
a  majority  at  the  polls  in  New  York.  There  is  a  great 
deal  of  good  work  going  on  in  this  world  of  ours,  Nolly, 
and  we  will  take  a  great  deal  of  comfort  in  looking  at 
it.  There  is  a  plenty  of  evil,  too,  but  we  won't  allow  it 
to  worry  us.  When  we  see  that  we  can't  do  any  thing 
with  it,  we  '11  turn  away  and  find  an  excellent  pillow  for 
our  heads  in  the  celestial  regulations." 


THE   END. 


THE    KNICKERBOCKER    SERIES 

OF 

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IV*.     THE  LOST  CASKET.     Translated  from  "  La  Main  Coupee  " 

of  F.  du  Boisgobey,  by  S.  Lee. 

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